JUNEAU — NovaGold Resources Inc. announced Monday that a gold prospect in southwest Alaska is ready to advance to permitting.
The Canada-based company said an updated feasibility study shows that the total cost of the project is roughly $300 million less than an earlier projection, at about $6.7 billion. The report also underscored the benefit of using natural gas instead of diesel for power generation, the company said. A pipeline would cost about $834 million.
Pending board approval, which could come next week, the permitting process could be initiated for the Donlin Gold project by April. Donlin Gold LLC, which holds the project, is owned by subsidiaries of NovaGold and Canada-based Barrick Gold Corp.
NovaGold President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told The Associated Press that the mine would average 1.5 million ounces of gold a year during its first five years of operation, and an average 1.1 million ounces over its projected 27-year life. Average cash-cost during the first five years would be $409 an ounce, and an average $585 an ounce over the life of the project, NovaGold said.
The price of gold has been over $1,700 an ounce.
NovaGold said there are proven and probable reserves of 33.8 million ounces at the Alaska site. The company expressed confidence that more discoveries will be made, which could add to the mine’s life or lead to expanded production.
The project, expected to be an open-pit mine, is about 155 miles northeast of Bethel, or 280 miles west of Anchorage. The mine site is on private Alaska Native corporation-owned land, Van Nieuwenhuyse said.
The project is operated under a mining lease with the Alaska Native corporation Calista Corp., and NovaGold said a lease agreement provides Calista with payments, royalties and economic development rights. Donlin Gold is negotiating a restructuring of a surface use agreement with Kuskokwim Corp., NovaGold said.
Van Nieuwenhuyse said it could take up to four years for the permitting process to be completed.
Comments (8)
Add commentIt won't matter if there are any jobs, with no local hire laws
Nobody HERE who's out of work has that much to gain from resource extraction-especially since they'll just give the jobs to people from out of town.
deaf, dumb, and blind
Jeremiah Johnson I hope you like janitorial work or line cooks because that's the only job you'll get. It's these international conglomerate companies like this Canadian one that will keep Alaska in the dark ages. We need real Alaskans (not people who move here because of a job) to own and operate these mines on a small scale so they'll provide jobs for 100 years instead of 27. No reason we need to dig it out of the ground as fast as possible and send the billions of dollars to NYC and Ontario bankers as fast as possible. Alaska needs to own these mines and keep the money here. Why get 7% royalties when we could have 100%. Go home Canadians, eh.
It's not "Communist" just to question the idea
that we need to put resource extraction before any other possible way to build an economy in this state.
We need to create something that employs those who are here now that isn't tied to a finite quantity of minerals, oil, or timber.
Your way is not the ONLY way.
And repeating the meaningless phrase "We Can't Wait!" isn't an argument.
Besides which, the things you want still wouldn't have happened even if NOBODY in Juneau disagreed with you. They haven't happened because there was good reason for them not to happen. Getting rid of "downtown liberals" wouldn't change that.
Speaking of Communism, wasn't
Speaking of Communism, wasn't it Joseph Stalin who believed it was easier to "remove" a demographic than convince them his way was best?