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Q+A
FINALLY, WITH YOUR EXTENSIVE INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF NOVAGOLD – IN THE FIELD OF CONSERVATION AND OTHER PASSIONS AS A HISTORIAN, SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR, AND ART COLLECTOR – HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR PERSONAL VALUES WITH YOUR INVESTMENT THESIS IN NOVAGOLD?
There are several aspects to answering this question. The first is very straightforward, in that my predisposition to conservation
– be it of wildlife or the cultural heritage of our common humanity – comes from a personal belief that the greatest imperative in life
is to give back. And conservation activism represents the most impactful way in which I have expressed this creed. Indeed, it is
a well-known fact in my circle that, had I possessed the aptitude,
I would have wished to become a field zoologist and spent my career in wild cat conservation. But alas, my strength proved to be in applying history, not science. Nonetheless, I rarely ever let go of my interests and I never lost my youthful passion for the subject. Quite the contrary. At the first opportunity, I took advantage of
my good fortune in the natural resources business to pivot to creating conservation organizations – thereby enabling the very practitioners who did possess those talents that I lacked – with the capabilities and freedom to save the biodiversity and ecosystems that constitute one of our generation’s most precious endowments.
To the extent that wildlife conservation impacts my professional sensibilities, it is reflected in my team’s placing the greatest emphasis possible on selecting projects that I believe can and should be built – yes, there have been those that I felt strongly should not be developed, for environmental and cultural reasons – and, when taken up the value chain, exemplify the very best practices in environmental standards. That’s a given. I take our social license at least as seriously. As mentioned repeatedly throughout this exchange, the support of one’s local stakeholders is a gift that should not be taken for granted. Ever.
On a more subliminal level, I believe that, like many people, I am most particularly attracted to the iconic. The big cats are
generally the most charismatic megafauna in their environment. And Rembrandt, whose work I collect and, more enjoyably, deploy in museums with both fervor and rigor, represents one of the greatest luminaries in history – his name evoking a revolution in the conveyance of freedom to the artists that followed him. As
with cats and Old Masters, much of my professional track record over the past 25 years has been built around sublime creations that are more often than not characterized by scarcity as well as some slew of superlatives. I am told that the passion with which I speak about Donlin is reminiscent of the way I speak about tigers and jaguars – the apex predators in their ecosystems – or in fact of my describing a Vermeer or a da Vinci. So it is not inconceivable that in the deep recesses of my reptilian neocortex, what I consider to be the category-killer nature of NOVAGOLD is something about which I hold a certain enthusiasm normally reserved for my extracurricular activities.
I am sometimes asked why, if my schedule permits, I join
Greg, Mélanie, and Igor on investor roadshows. The reason is that
I genuinely enjoy their company – otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t do it. Moreover, I really love to tell the Donlin story. This is especially so as it just gets better and better. I don’t much care to speak of legacy, yet there’s no doubt that, whereas I have enjoyed more than my fair share of hits for a best-of album, in my mind from a professional standpoint Donlin surely will mark my most enduring gold record. That’s saying quite a lot, as San Cristobal essentially transformed Bolivian mining and the broader region of Potosí – very much for the better. But still, Donlin’s impact could be even more significant. As a generational gold asset, it truly stands unparalleled. Its unique quality and scale make it more rare than
a Leonardo da Vinci. It is indeed a Carel Fabritius. I’ll leave readers to look that one up if they got this far and did not by chance read The Goldfinch. Suffice to say that Fabritius represents the holy grail for lovers of Rembrandt and his school – in much the same way I believe that Donlin represents the holy grail in the gold space.
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