NOVAGOLD reports 2Q21 financial results

2Q21 highlights and updates

• In order to minimise the risk posed by COVID-19, NOVAGOLD is continuing to maintain a wide-ranging set of health and safety policies at its offices in Salt Lake City and Vancouver, and, in conjunction with Barrick, at the Donlin Gold office in Anchorage and project site. These measures are designed to ensure the safety and well-being of all employees, contractors, and people associated with the company.
• The Donlin Gold project camp has been re-opened safely with four drills currently operating.
  • A total of 28 holes (representing approximately 8650 m of length drilled) as of 26 June 2021, out of the 64 planned for the 2021 programme, have been drilled to date (representing a total of approximately 20 100 m of length to be drilled). The programme is expected to:
    • Build upon a successful 2020 drill programme that produced results supporting updates to recent geologic modelling concepts, validate mineralisation continuity, and test for extensions of high-grade zones in both intrusive (igneous) and sedimentary rocks.
    • Provide necessary information to support a decision to move to the upcoming feasibility study, subject to a formal decision by the Donlin Gold LLC Board, and initiate the engineering work necessary to advance the project design before reaching a construction decision.
  • Numerous camp improvements were completed: equipment purchased, kitchen facilities expanded, a new recreation area furnished, electrical work upgraded, sleeper capacity increased, camp facilities remodelled, a new warehouse added, and core logging and cutting facilities and equipment were upgraded.
• Donlin Gold, together with its Native Corporation partners Calista and TKC, carried out a wide range of community engagement and support initiatives:
  • Finalised shared value statements with two additional villages from the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) region for a total of seven shared value statements (Akiak, Sleetmute, Napaimute, Crooked Creek, Napaskiak, Nikolai, and Tuluksak) to date. These agreements include educational, environmental, and social initiatives to help support villages.
  • Held the Lower Kuskokwim School District’s annual College and Career fair where more than 42 vendors and 100 students attended the virtual event held in April 2021.
  • Launched a Subsistence Community Advisory Committee (SCAC) which will strengthen the role of Donlin Gold in guiding subsistence activities within the Kuskokwim River drainage.
• NOVAGOLD sponsored and participated in the Mining for Miracles Pie Throw, an annual fundraising event in support of the BC Children’s Hospital Cellular and Regenerative Medicine Centre.
• On 27 May 2021, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) Commissioner upheld the State of Alaska’s Section 401 Certification under the Clean Water Act that had been granted to Donlin Gold in 2018 after a thorough, diligent and transparent review by State and Federal agencies of the proposed project development plan and its relationship with the surrounding environment. The Commissioner’s decision was appealed in Alaska’s Superior Court on 28 June 2021, by a San Francisco-based activist law firm, Earthjustice. Donlin Gold strongly believes that the Commissioner’s decision to uphold the 401 Certification validates the project’s stakeholders’ commitment to advance the Donlin Gold project in a safe and environmentally responsible manner for the benefit of all Alaskans.
• With key Federal and State permits in hand, Donlin Gold continued to advance additional State permits, including water rights and the natural gas pipeline State Right-of-Way (ROW).
• NOVAGOLD continues to maintain a strong treasury amounting to US$107.6 million in cash and term deposits as of May 31, 2021, and it has receivables from Newmont amounting to US$75 million due in July 2021 and an additional US$25 million due in July 2023.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/finance-business/30062021/novagold-reports-2q21-financial-results/