New Gold Announces Restart of the Rainy River Mine

April 3, 2020 – New Gold Inc. (“New Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX and NYSE American: NGD) reports that the Rainy River mine has begun a systematic ramp-up of operations following the completion of a voluntary 14-day suspension to adhere to provincial and federal COVID-19 guidelines related to out-of-country travel that impacted a significant portion of the local workforce. As the health and safety of our employees and communities remains our number one priority, operations will steadily ramp-up over the coming weeks with the overarching priority of ensuring we provide the safest possible environment for our employees.

Rainy River Mine management will continue to work with surrounding Indigenous and local communities to implement and coordinate actions that will reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19. Enhanced precautionary measures relating to COVID-19 have been implemented throughout the operation. For further information see www.newgold.com/covid-19/Rainy-River-Mine/.

The Company will initially utilize the local workforce during a progressive ramp-up of operations. This initial phase will be followed by the gradual reintroduction of the rotational workforce. To ensure the safety of our workforce and our local communities, extra measures have been implemented in accordance with the recommendations of the Ontario Department of Public Health and will be overseen by our onsite Nurse Practitioner. Throughout this period, we remain in constant contact with the Northwestern Health Unit, a division of the Ontario Department of Public Health, to ensure our ongoing compliance with all provincial regulations and measures related to COVID-19.

Additional details of the ramp-up and an update on our mid-term operational plans will be provided along with our first quarter operational update expected to be released in mid-April.

During the 14-day suspension a minimum crew was retained to monitor and maintain essential activities, ensure there was no impact on the environment and fully implement sanitization practices throughout the mine site, camp, and mobile and fixed equipment to ensure a safe working environment for our employees. During this period, the team also advanced preventative maintenance work at the mill facility, stockpiled ore for the ramp-up period, supplied NAG material for the tailings management area and monitored water levels.