New Found Gold's Hammerdown Gold Mine in Canada Achieves Commercial Production

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 16, New Found Gold announced that its Hammerdown Gold Mine, located in central Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, has achieved commercial production. The project met the company's three commercial production criteria for 60 consecutive days starting from June 21, and officially reached the commercial production milestone on August 19. During the 60-day period, the Pine Cove processing plant averaged approximately 748 tonnes per day, with a gold recovery rate of 87.7% and an average head grade of 2.92 g/t, all exceeding the company's established thresholds.

The Hammerdown commercial production criteria include: Pine Cove processing plant throughput of no less than 600 tonnes per day, equivalent to 85% of the 700 tonnes per day design capacity; gold recovery rate of no less than 80%; and head grade of no less than 80% of the mine plan's average head grade. As of the end of August 2026, Hammerdown had cumulatively produced 9,140 ounces of gold, including 1,989 ounces produced in August. The average realized gold selling price for the first eight months was CAD 6,271 per ounce, approximately USD 4,532 per ounce.

Hammerdown utilizes open-pit mining, with ore transported to the Pine Cove processing plant for processing. The Preliminary Economic Assessment published in early 2026 indicates a planned mine life of 13 years, including a one-year stockpile ore reprocessing period in 2038. Over the mine life, approximately 3.2 million tonnes of mineralized material are planned to be processed, with an average head grade of 2.89 g/t after sorting, and estimated cumulative gold recovery of approximately 251,300 ounces, averaging approximately 19,300 ounces of gold per year.

The project's life-of-mine average cash cost is estimated at USD 2,149 per ounce, with an all-in sustaining cost estimated at USD 2,429 per ounce. The Preliminary Economic Assessment calculated an after-tax net present value of CAD 199.2 million, using a 5% discount rate and a long-term gold price of USD 3,475 per ounce. Total project capital costs include approximately CAD 24.3 million in contingency, and approximately CAD 18 million in closure and reclamation costs.

New Found Gold is constructing crushing and ore sorting facilities at Hammerdown, with completion planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. Once operational, the facilities will handle ore crushing and pre-sorting, reducing unit crushing and transportation costs by rejecting some low-grade material, and increasing the ore grade entering the Pine Cove processing plant.

The Pine Cove processing plant will subsequently undergo capacity expansion and process modifications. The company plans to convert the existing 700 tonnes per day flotation-leach-Merrill-Crowe circuit to a 1,400 tonnes per day gravity-CIL circuit. The permit for modifying the existing circuit has been obtained, and a separate permit application will be made for the 1,400 tonnes per day capacity expansion. The project modification is currently progressing on budget and on schedule, with completion expected in the fourth quarter of 2027.

The expanded Pine Cove processing plant will continue to process Hammerdown ore and will also handle ore processing for New Found Gold's Queensway Phase 1 project. The company has advanced the related EPCM engineering, with Queensway Phase 1 targeting first gold production in the second half of 2027, subject to obtaining the required permits.

The Hammerdown mine is currently conducting phased grade control drilling at the open pit, as well as diamond drilling of inferred resources below the existing Phase 1 open pit. The company plans to update the Hammerdown mineral resource estimate in 2027 to provide a basis for subsequent mine plan optimization and resource conversion.