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in autoclave technology. So, when we look at Donlin Gold, the amount of work that’s gone into it, combined with the robustness of the asset and the grade, we’re very comfortable in where the cost structure will be. But once again, people tell me, “Well, you know, you could have significant cost inflation years down the road.” And I say, like General David Petraeus said as Commander in Iraq, “Tell me, where does this end?” If you say that, then please tell me, where do you think gold is? “Oh no, we make the assumption gold is the same.” Really? Then why are we even talking?
Yeah, the average expectation on the sell side is $1,600 gold per ounce. It’s a flat price deck.
Well, you know, we are bullish on gold and we want to
be able to provide the premier vehicle for those who want it, on a risk-adjusted basis, the most octane and the lowest risk
in the development space for a Tier-One asset in a Tier-One jurisdiction. That’s our mantra. We are gold bulls. And for those who aren’t gold bulls...
Go somewhere else.
One thing I’ve learned over the last 30 years is bears don’t buy shares. And I will spend time talking to someone if they have a thousand shares or they have 10 million shares. I enjoy it, clearly, and it’s not because I have to do it. It’s because I like to do it. Being associated with Donlin Gold to me is like being associated with Rembrandt or being associated with tigers. You’re literally talking the best in breed in their space. That’s not a hardship, that’s a privilege.
Maybe this would be a good time to talk about sustainability. It’s something that we frankly have become more and more involved in, and, of course, it has become one of the screens by which large capital will invest in the mining space. So I’d be interested in hearing how you look at that and what you’re doing – and what you still need to do in terms of the ESG side of the equation.
Well, fortunately, we haven’t had to make any philosophical adjustments in the company for the last decade. Greg Lang, the entire management team of NOVAGOLD, and
I have always been extremely committed to ESG on every level. And even before ESG became a popular initialism, my own affinity, indeed passion, for wildlife conservation and particularly for species which require entire landscapes in which to be able to thrive, like big cats, means that for me, the environment is not just second nature, it’s actually first nature. So the first thing that my kids will associate with me is passion for wildlife. And I’ve managed to inculcate that in all of them. So I would never ever be around anything that countenanced cutting any corners when it comes to the environment or sustainability.
Social license, the environmental license, is existential in the mining industry. If you don’t have great relationships with the communities, if you don’t have great relationships at the provincial level so that people buy in so that they see that what you are doing is going to have a direct impact on their lives and, most important, the prospects for their children, then you’re going to go nowhere fast – or even worse, you’re going
1.20 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 0.00
1.10
Donlin Gold USA19
0.5
Goldrush USA20
0.39
Courageous Lake Canada20
0.37
Côté Gold Canada20
0.36
Salares Norte Chile20
0.32
Blackwater Canada20
PRODUCTION
Projected Annual Gold Production (millions of ounces)
CHAIRMAN’S INTERVIEW 29