Page 22 - Demo
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 It is already the second largest gold-producing state after Nevada. We are very blessed to have our Native Corporation partners at the local level, the Calista Corporation and The Kuskokwim Corporation, and to have as our strategic partner Barrick Gold. As a consequence, the level of professionalism that came from the NOVAGOLD team and the support that we had at the local level and at the government level in Alaska and, ultimately, the federal government allowed us to be able to do something that a lot of people thought would be too hard to do. We got a Record of Decision. In fact, it was the first time that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Army
combination of attributes of this asset, you realize that there is no other in the world like it. No mining project has ever begun production with over 40 million ounces. NOVAGOLD’s resources are only on three kilometers of a mineral belt that is eight kilometers. And those eight kilometers represent only 5 percent of the total land package. We’re just simply following an old adage that if you’re going to look for elephants, go to elephant country. There are only a few mines in the world that can have that kind of production because the grade is already double if not triple what’s coming online in the gold industry.
Now you take all of that and the fact that it’s located in a jurisdiction that is already the second largest gold-producing state in the union – on land that is private and already designated by law for mining – what you see is an asset that, if we are right, could be the next Nevada. And already is poised to be the greatest gold story in the development space. The only other asset that compares to it is Sukhoi Log in Russia, and we wish them the best of success. But we would argue, I think, that we’re on the right side of the Bering Strait.
Your partner has, to my way of thinking, been tone-deaf on the issue of jurisdictional safety. You can observe that simply by where their assets are located. I don’t have to go through the litany of where they are. So I guess maybe something changed recently with your joint announcement with Barrick in terms of their way of viewing the world and their evaluation of political safety as being relevant in terms of where they spend their capital.
I think it’s fair to say that Mark Bristow is without a doubt one of the greatest CEOs of his generation in the gold mining industry. Mark’s experience is primarily in Africa. I also have African experience in gold. I sold him the Kibali mine as
well as a platinum asset in Zimbabwe. So, I’m not Pollyanna when it comes to my experiences in Africa. I also got my first lucky break in Bolivia. So I do have an understanding of the opportunities that are present in the developing world.
Mark’s focus has always been Tier-One assets that
will make a certain kind of return; that are of a significant production profile and all of the other attributes which Barrick
 “We have, like the tortoise and the hare, taken [Donlin Gold] up the value chain while other projects that people thought would go into production have, like the hare, fallen by the wayside. Donlin Gold is on the path. I believe that Donlin Gold will be a producer for decades to come.”
Corps of Engineers combined to provide a joint Record of Decision – something that so moved them to have their own ceremony to celebrate the occasion. One of the great things about Donlin Gold is that anyone who goes to Alaska – and Mark Bristow has now been there a couple of times and seen
it firsthand – realizes the depth of support that we have from Calista and TKC, the owners of the mineral and surface rights, but all the way through to the governors and to the senators themselves. Donlin Gold is now viewed as the flagship for gold development in Alaska.
When you combine all of these factors, what you have
is a situation where I’m often asked, “Why do you say that Donlin Gold is unique?” The reasons are when you look at the
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