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 I’ve always been a believer that at the end of the day, the money is made on having great assets. I’ve never believed that production in and of itself should be the metric on taking a position to the contrary.
That’s radical in the world of sell-side research.
Completely. But you know, that’s how I’ve made my living. If everybody adhered to the same opinion, I would’ve had
far more competition in the space. So if you’ve got someone whose foremost credential to be in the mining industry is a PhD in counterinsurgency, then there must be something else going for him. In my case I am probably the luckiest person I’ve ever met – personally and professionally. I’ve been blessed with surrounding myself with the best in breed: geologists like Larry Buchanan, specialists like Igor Levental and Ken Rye. And then being able to create an ecosystem in which we have this coterie of superior managements. For example, Greg Lang. Before he joined NOVAGOLD, Greg was the president of Barrick North America for eight years. He was producing more gold than Goldcorp, but he was also someone who had been with Barrick and its predecessor companies for nearly 30 years. Why did he leave Barrick to join NOVAGOLD? The reason was because, as he said, “I wanted to go into the company that had access to being a pure play on what I felt was the greatest development story in the gold industry.” And he knew it. Donlin Gold came under his purview at Barrick. He was part of the team that made the takeover attempt in 2006. So he was an educated consumer – which of course as we know is the best customer. When he came in, he said, “I will join as CEO if you join as chairman.” And that’s how I took the position. I very rarely
join the boards of companies even if I own 70 or 80 percent of them. My shareholders, those who follow us, know that I follow these stories extremely carefully. As they say at Fidelity, the owner lives above the store. I don’t have to be on the board of NOVAGOLD, but I do it because I enjoy it. I do it because I am a huge believer in Donlin Gold. I nearly named my third child, our youngest son, Donlin Gold. So that’s got to be indicative of the passion which we have for this story.
I do it because it’s one of the most enjoyable gigs in the gold mining industry. I get to work with Greg Lang. I get to work with Mélanie Hennessey. I get to work with Richard
Williams and Ron Rimelman and Dave Ottewell. A great cast of people, all of whom have this huge company experience but have come together to help build out what they all believe to be the greatest gold story in the space. When Richard Williams joined from Barrick, he had just taken into production Pueblo Viejo. That was the biggest gold investment Barrick had ever made. And when Victor Flores, who came to visit Donlin Gold for John Paulson, asked him why he made that move, Richard conveyed that he wanted to be part of the greatest gold story in the world. That’s a statement. And that is part of our DNA. We’ve all been together as a team for many, many years, and I enjoy it. I enjoy their company. Otherwise, I simply wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t need to do it, that’s for sure.
You certainly don’t need to. One of the questions I think that crosses investors’ minds, and certainly my mind from time to time, is this is a large capital commitment. The last count was I think seven billion. I know it can be staged and maybe wouldn’t be that large, but, from NOVAGOLD’s point of view, whatever is decided would still be a major financial commitment. So I would be interested in your thoughts on how you will negotiate that particular issue. And I know there are many different ways to do it, but I kind of think it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on that.
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CHAIRMAN’S INTERVIEW 23










































































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