Donlin Gold LLC (Donlin Gold) is the company developing a proposed large open-pit gold mine in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. It is a joint venture that includes NovaGold Resources and addresses permitting, financing and dam safety near Crooked Creek.
donlingold.com ↗725 E Fireweed Ln #200, Anchorage, AK 99503, USA
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Canadian court approves NovaGold deal that would put Donlin Gold under one owner
A British Columbia court on Monday approved NovaGold's deal to take its partner's share of Donlin Gold, putting the proposed gold mine near Crooked Creek in Southwest Alaska on track to have a single owner when the deal is expected to take effect Dec. 1.
NovaGold and the investment firm Paulson Advisers have owned Donlin 60-40 since they bought out Barrick's half in 2025, but they've had equal say over the project, each naming two of Donlin Gold's four board members. When the deal closes, a new Delaware company, NovaGold Corporation, would own all of it.
Paulson would trade its 40% for stock and become the new company's largest shareholder, with about 39.7% of its economic interest. Its voting power would be capped at 19.99%. John Paulson and NovaGold Chairman Thomas Kaplan would be co-chairs.
NovaGold says one owner would widen its access to money for the mine, including from what it calls "official-sector capital," such as government agencies and sovereign wealth funds. Donlin Gold's general manager gave legislators a rough estimate in May of about $10 billion to build it, saying the final number would come from a feasibility study.
The deal doesn't decide whether it gets built. Donlin Gold expects to finish that study in the first half of 2027, the general manager said, and then be in a position to make an investment decision. NovaGold's filing on the court approval lists among its risks "whether or when a positive construction decision will be made."
If the mine goes ahead, construction would need 2,000 to 3,000 workers and run through 2031, and the mine would then employ about 750 people directly, the general manager said. NovaGold's 2025 technical report puts about 40 million ounces of gold in the deposit's measured and indicated resources and projects production averaging more than 1 million ounces a year over a 27-year mine life.
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About Donlin Gold LLC
donlingold.com ↗725 E Fireweed Ln #200, Anchorage, AK 99503, USA
Donlin Gold LLC is the company developing a large open-pit gold mine project near Crooked Creek and the Kuskokwim River in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. It is a joint venture that includes NovaGold Resources, and it is also known as Donlin or the Donlin Gold Mine.
The questions that recur around the project concern who owns it, how it will be financed and whether its owners will decide to build. Its tailings dam draws close study, including a court-ordered review of what a large dam failure would do to the river downstream.
The mine is often compared to the Red Dog mine as a possible source of revenue for Alaska Native corporations with land in the region. Tribes along the Kuskokwim have opposed it, which keeps the project at the center of a regional debate over jobs and the river.