Congratulations to Beki Toussaint and Her Family!
NOVAGOLD Plans Aggressive 2025 Season for Donlin Gold
The partners in the Donlin Gold project — NOVAGOLD and Barrick — have announced ambitious plans for 2025 building on a successful 2024 season. In late January, NOVAGOLD filed its 2024 fiscal year-end report and provided an update on the Donlin project. NOVAGOLD held a strong treasury of approximately $101 million in cash and term deposits as of Nov. 30 and reported net annual cash expenditures of $24.5 million — including $12.4 million to fund NOVAGOLD’s share of the Donlin Gold project and $17.7 million in corporate general and administrative costs, below its 2024 expenditure guidance of $31.2 million. Donlin Gold undertook the following key activities in 2024 to advance technical work to position the project for an updated cost estimate: n Substantially completed metallurgical test work at a pilot plant in Ontario, Canada to confirm proposed optimizations to the flowsheet; advanced an updated resource model; and collected field and geochemical data for operational and closure planning; n Submitted the preliminary design packages for the Dam Safety Certification to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) in the second half of 2024; n Collaborated with Donlin Gold, Calista Corporation (“Calista”), and The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) on substantial ecological, educational and cultural awareness initiatives, including community outreach in the project’s region — hosted public open houses in three locations, participated in two Subsistence Community Advisory Committee meetings, and established three additional Shared Values Statements with local villages. n NOVAGOLD and Barrick held a Donlin Gold workshop in Alaska in September to review the important work completed to date and to agree on the next steps for the Donlin Gold project and related 2025 activities. The Donlin Gold board approved a budget of $43 million (100% basis) for 2025, comprising the following key areas: n Camp operations with grid drilling to refine mine planning assumptions; n Updated mine planning; n Geotechnical engineering and geosciences closure planning; n Project planning; n Advancement of Dam Safety Certificate applications; and n Community relations, government affairs and maintaining permits in good standing.
Partnering for Broader Reach and Meaningful Impact Donlin noted it recognizes the importance of ecological stewardship in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) region. Since mid-2023, Donlin Gold has intensified efforts to monitor, survey, and engage on the crucial subject of salmon fisheries in the Kuskokwim and Yukon River watersheds. In 2024, Donlin Gold launched a salmon smolt monitoring program on the George River, a tributary of the Kuskokwim River, in partnership with the Native Village of Napaimute to assess smolt health and migration patterns — an initiative that will continue into 2025. Restoration of a portion of the historic Lyman placer site, which included significant stream and pond habitat creation, including aquatic life access and use, was completed in 2024. Aquatic restoration work on a reach of Snow Gulch previously disturbed by historic mining will start in 2025. In 2024, Donlin Gold, Calista, and TKC held public open houses in Anchorage, Bethel, and Crooked Creek — the closest community to the project. Two Subsistence Community Advisory Committee meetings were conducted, the first in Aniak during the second quarter and the second in Anchorage in December. Donlin Gold also established three additional Shared Values Statements, bringing the total to 18. Donlin Gold’s numerous partnerships in the Y-K region and statewide, aimed at supporting ecological projects, education, summer youth employment programs, and cultural awareness efforts, continue to grow. Together these efforts underscore Donlin Gold’s ongoing engagement with and commitment to local communities, reinforcing existing long-term relationships and addressing specific community needs.
AMA was thrilled to learn that our beloved Beki Toussaint, Education Program Director, at Alaska Resource Education and her husband, Luke welcomed Addison Wren Metherell on Jan. 4, at 5:42 am. She decided to make her appearance a little earlier than planned, but she is healthy and strong! Addison weighed in at 5 pounds, 10.5 ounces, and 19 inches long. The whole family is doing well and we cannot to meet her. Minor Miner indeed!
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February 2025 I The Alaska Miner I www.alaskaminers.org
www.alaskaminers.org I The Alaska Miner I February 2025
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