ALASKA – The Donlin gold project 450 km northwest of Anchorage was never going to be an inexpensive development, but now the US$6 billion undertaking is a step closer to reality. The directors of the operating company, Donlin Gold, have approved the updated feasibility study and given the company the okay to begin filing permit applications.
The Donlin project is an equal joint venture of Toronto’s Barrick Gold and Vancouver’s NovaGold Resources.
The Donlin deposit is one of the largest undeveloped gold properties in the world. It has measured and indicated resources of 39 million oz of gold (541 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.2 g/t Au). As stated in the updated feasibility study, the project will produce 1.5 million oz of gold per year in the first five full years of production and average more than 1.0 million oz of gold per year over a 27 year mine life. Donlin is one of only seven of the world's gold mines producing or which have the potential to produce in excess of a million oz of gold per year.
Readers might enjoy visiting the live webcam picture at DonlinGold.com. Details of the project are also available there.
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