Donlin Leaders Say New Partner Brings New Energy to Project

“It changed the momentum of the project by closer aligning the objective and, not just the direction, but the velocity at which we‘re traveling,” Dahlman said.

Dahlman says the Donlin team has been working to bring information about the mine to a bankable feasibility. “We’ve engaged with two different major engineering firms. We’ve received their initial proposals, and we’re looking to have one under contract in the next few months,” he said.

Parallel to that, he said, is the feasibility decision for the roughly 300-mile pipeline to fuel the project’s 225 MW power plant, which would become the third-largest gas-fired power station in Alaska. Dahlman said Donlin Gold is “hoping to get them all done about the right time so we can make a knowledgeable decision on construction when all the information comes in.”

Donlin Gold’s website describes it as an underground pipeline that would tie in to an existing pipeline at Beluga, in Cook Inlet. Gas purchased on the open market would be piped directly to the mine, planned as a mile-wide pit at the peak of its twenty-seven-year operating life.

Donlin leaders estimate the prospect holds around 40 million ounces of gold. “Forty million ounces is one of a kind. This is a tier one jurisdiction,” said Richard Williams, vice president and COO of NOVAGOLD.

Williams, who has been working on Donlin Gold for a dozen years, told the Alaska Miners Association he wasn’t used to “sitting around this long” on a project, but the Canadian mining company sees its long-term value.

“This is the one. This is generational. It’s going to change that region,” Williams said.

That “once-in-a-lifetime” nature of the project is what drew Paulson to take on a greater share, said Paulson Advisers partner Marcelo Kim. The private equity firm has often partnered in mining projects, Kim said. Its historic investments were more adventurous, involving mines around the world, but instability led the firm to narrow its focus. Today its mining investments are in the United States or Canada, he said.

“We’ve been invested in NOVAGOLD since 2011. And we were very frustrated with the lack of progress, so when Barrick—when we found out in February of this year that Barrick was willing to sell its stake, we moved very, very quickly,” Kim said. “Donlin is a once-in-a-generational asset in terms of scale size, and it’s in Alaska. As you guys know very well, this administration is very, very pro-Alaska.”

Kim added, “We like being in Alaska. We love being in a state where you’re welcomed, where the rules are respected.”