"Six drills are operating in and around Keats, with three working to tackle mineralization correlated to the main plunge and to depth, while an additional three drills are working at Keats North to follow-up on the recent near surface discoveries," New Found's vice president for exploration Melissa Render said.

"Meanwhile, six more drills are systematically testing along the north segment of the [Appleton fault zone]," she added.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Mikitchook noted that high-grade intercepts at the Main zone at Keats included 42.6g/t over 11.75 metres and 55.1g/t over 5.1 metres.

"The drilling continues to build NFG's geological understanding of the zone, and continued the trend of high grade intercepts across strong widths," the analyst said.

NFG said drilling at the south end of Keats intersected 11.2g/t over 2.10 metres at roughly 30 metres below surface.

"This high-grade gold mineralization is associated with an extensive moderately southwest dipping brittle fault zone that appears to play a role in localizing gold," the explorer said.

"The extents of this target area are not well constrained and this fault zone area and its projected intersections with the [Appleton fault zone] and [Keats-Baseline fault zone] are high priorities for the current drilling," it said.

Mikitchook said, "While not of the thickness of the main Keats discovery, this intercept highlights the near-surface mineralization present in the area".

The six rigs exploring along the Appleton fault zone have the "strong potential" for additional high-grade discoveries or expansions, he said.

Shares in New Found Gold were trading a C$7.20 (US$5.71) on June 6, valuing the company at C$1.19 million.