New Found Gold's 9.51 g/t over 19.85m at Keats West supports resource upgrade, lifting Newfoundland camp and peers Equinox Gold, Wheaton Precious Metals.
New Found Gold Corp. (NFGC) reported final 2025 infill drilling results from its Queensway Gold Project in Newfoundland on May 4. The headline intercept returned 9.51 grams per tonne gold over 19.85 metres at Keats West. A separate hole at Keats hit 36.1 g/t Au over 2.00 metres. These numbers are not exploration curiosities. They directly support the company’s objective to upgrade inferred mineral resources to the indicated category for a Phase 1 open pit mine plan. That conversion step moves Queensway from a discovery story toward a development asset, and the signal travels well beyond NFGC’s own share price.
The more actionable read for a watchlist is the re-rating potential these results inject into the Canadian gold sector, particularly for junior producers and royalty companies with exposure to Newfoundland and to high-grade, development-stage projects. When a drill bit hits 9.51 g/t over nearly 20 metres in a camp that is still defining its ultimate scale, the market begins to reprice the entire neighbourhood.
The 9.51 g/t over 19.85 m intercept at Keats West is not an isolated high-grade spike. New Found Gold’s program also produced 9.15 g/t Au over 7.15 m below the Keats zone in step-out drilling beneath the planned Phase 2 pits. The company completed over 13,000 metres of pre-development drilling covering condemnation, geotechnical, and hydrogeological work. That work confirmed the absence of mineralization at proposed infrastructure sites while delivering the feasibility-level data required to finalize pit designs. An updated Technical Report and mineral resource estimate is expected in the second half of 2026.
For a sector that often trades on inferred ounces with wide confidence intervals, the Queensway program is methodically narrowing the uncertainty. The infill results demonstrate that the AFZ Core can deliver grade and continuity at spacings tight enough to support a mine plan. The conversation shifts from “is there gold here” to “how much can be economically extracted in the first five years of production.” The readthrough is that other Canadian developers with similar geological settings and a clear path to a resource upgrade may see their own discount to net asset value compress. The market rewards de-risking, and that dynamic can lift valuations across the peer group.
Newfoundland’s gold camps have attracted a wave of junior explorers over the past five years. Few have advanced to the point of delivering feasibility-level drilling. Queensway’s progress changes the perception of the entire camp. The presence of high-grade, near-surface mineralization that can be converted to indicated resources signals to the market that Newfoundland is not just an exploration province. It is a jurisdiction where a mine can be permitted and built.
The readthrough extends to companies holding land positions along the same structural trends, as well as to royalty and streaming companies that have exposure to the camp. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM) holds a streaming agreement on a different Newfoundland asset. The rising tide of development success in the province strengthens the value of any stream tied to a project that can demonstrate similar geological continuity. Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS), while primarily a silver producer, operates in the broader Americas precious metals space. It benefits when the market re-rates the entire junior-to-mid-tier gold segment, improving exit multiples for any assets it may choose to monetize.
Equinox Gold Corp. (EQX) is a more direct peer in the Canadian mid-tier producer space. The company operates multiple mines in the Americas and has its own development pipeline. When a high-grade discovery like Queensway advances toward production, it raises the bar for what constitutes a quality development asset. Producers with existing operations and a track record of execution may see their own project pipelines revalued upward. The market distinguishes between ounces that are merely in the ground and ounces that are moving toward a mill, and that distinction drives the re-rating. Other mid-tier producers such as Eldorado Gold Corp. (EGO) and Fortuna Mining Corp. (FSM) operate in similar jurisdictions and face the same market dynamics.
Osisko Development Corp. (ODV) provides another lens on the same theme. On May 4, the company appointed a Vice President of Construction Contracting and Commercial to strengthen execution capabilities at its fully permitted Cariboo Gold Project in British Columbia. That project, like Queensway, is a past-producing camp being revived with a modern development plan. The market’s willingness to pay for development ounces is being tested simultaneously in Newfoundland and British Columbia. When one project delivers high-grade infill results, the implied probability of success for the other rises, even if the geology differs. The ODV valuation gap that AlphaScala examined earlier this year becomes a more acute question when the sector’s development premium is expanding.
Jeffrey Gundlach, DoubleLine Capital Founder and CEO, told CNBC on March 24 that he maintains a long-term preference for commodities and gold. He views current price levels as a very good opportunity to add to positions. Gundlach noted that gold had already exceeded his prior forecast of $4,000, climbing to nearly $5,500. His broader equity market view was cautious. He characterized the market as being in a revaluation phase where making money had become increasingly difficult. He expressed a lack of enthusiasm for credit or stocks at current valuations.
Gundlach also flagged a disconnect in the VIX, which never rose above 30 during the decline in risk assets. He would prefer to see the VIX go higher to signal a definitive washout before becoming more optimistic about equities. For gold stocks, this macro backdrop is a double-edged signal. A sustained high gold price provides a revenue tailwind. A disorderly equity selloff could drag down even profitable miners if liquidity dries up. The practical takeaway is that gold equities are not a simple beta play on the metal. Stock selection matters. The market is likely to reward companies that can demonstrate asset quality and development progress independent of the macro noise.
AlphaScala’s proprietary scoring system assigns Equinox Gold Corp. (EQX) an Alpha Score of 60 out of 100, a Moderate rating within the Basic Materials sector. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM) scores 68, also Moderate. Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) sits at 67. These scores reflect a balanced mix of operational momentum, valuation, and risk factors. None of the three is flashing a strong contrarian signal. All three sit in a range where incremental positive news–such as a rising gold price or a peer’s development milestone–can shift sentiment.
The Queensway drill results do not directly change the fundamentals for EQX, WPM, or PAAS. The readthrough is that high-grade Canadian gold discoveries are advancing, and the market’s willingness to pay for development ounces is being tested. If NFGC’s updated resource estimate in H2 2026 delivers a material increase in indicated ounces, the re-rating could spill over to the mid-tier producers and royalty companies that the market views as the natural consolidators of these assets. For traders building a watchlist, the catalyst chain is: NFGC resource upgrade → Newfoundland camp re-rating → broader Canadian gold developer re-rating → potential M&A premium for producers with nearby operations.
The most immediate risk to the readthrough is execution. New Found Gold’s Phase 1 open pit plan depends on converting inferred ounces to indicated. The updated Technical Report will be the first hard test of whether the grade and continuity hold at the scale required for a mine. A disappointing resource update would not only hit NFGC. It would also deflate the premium that the market has begun to assign to Newfoundland developers.
The gold price itself remains the second risk. Gundlach’s call for higher gold is a long-term view. In the short term, a sharp rise in real rates or a sudden strengthening of the U.S. dollar could trigger a correction in the metal. Gold equities typically amplify moves in the underlying commodity. The VIX disconnect that Gundlach highlighted is a warning. If equities finally experience a volatility event, gold stocks may not be immune, even if the metal holds up.
The next concrete marker is the H2 2026 Technical Report from New Found Gold. Until then, the market will trade on the quality of the drill results already in hand and on the macro narrative around gold. The Queensway intercepts have raised the bar for what a Canadian gold development story looks like. The stocks that can meet that bar–whether through their own drill results, production growth, or royalty exposure–are the ones that belong on a watchlist when the sector re-rates.
Drafted by the AlphaScala research model and grounded in primary market data – live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.