SPOKANE, WA - The American Exploration & Mining Association (AEMA) honored NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. with AEMA's Platinum Award for Corporate Excellence at its 124th Annual Meeting earlier this month in Spokane, WA. The award was presented to NOVAGOLD for designing the Donlin Gold project to incorporate a strong culture of safety, environmental stewardship, and community engagement with the potential to generate meaningful benefits throughout Alaska for many decades to come.
"NOVAGOLD is honored to receive AEMA's 2018 Platinum Award for Corporate Excellence for its work on the Donlin Gold project in southwestern Alaska," said Ron Rimmelman, NOVAGOLD Vice President, Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability. "We also would like to thank our partners, Barrick Gold, and two Alaska Native Corporations, Calista Corporation and The Kuskokwim Corporation as well as the Donlin Gold, LLC partnership team in Alaska for their extraordinary work and commitment to the project." Donlin Gold has demonstrated its commitment to the Y-K region by prioritizing local hiring, preserving the region's way of life, and participating in community programs.
Located in the Yukon Kuskokwim (Y-K) region in Western Alaska, 10 miles north of Crooked Creek Village, Donlin Gold is one of the largest known undeveloped gold deposits in the world. With an estimated 33.8 million ounces of gold reserves, the Donlin Gold project is proposed to process approximately 59,000 short tons of ore per day for an estimated 27 years. The project is located on land owned by two Alaska Native corporations, the Calista Corporation (Calista) owns the mineral rights and The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) owns the surface rights.
In April, following an extensive six-year environmental review process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Donlin Gold project, and in August it received a single federal Record of Decision (ROD) from the Corps and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). These were landmark issuances, as Donlin Gold is the first project to receive a single, multi-agency ROD since the implementation of the One Federal Decision policy established by Executive Order (E.O.) 13807 requiring federal agencies to cooperate in the processing of environmental reviews and authorization decisions. To accomplish this milestone, Donlin Gold worked on a daily basis with the Corps and BLM staff and management to ensure that they had all the information they needed to reach a strong and nationally precedent-setting decision.
"Receipt of the first ever joint ROD from the Corps and BLM was a major milestone in advancing Donlin Gold, which represents one of the world's largest and highest-grade known open pit deposits," Rimmelman said.
Concurrent with the ROD, the Corps issued its Clean Water Action Section 404 and Rivers and Harbors Act Section 10 permit, and the BLM issued it's Right of Way Offer for the project pipeline portions on Federal lands. The ROD and Federal permit issuances marked a major step in the project's effort to secure all the key approvals needed to construct and operate the mine.
As one of the largest private sector development opportunities in Southwest Alaska, NOVAGOLD is working with its partner, Barrick Gold to ensure the project will benefit the entire region. Donlin Gold has demonstrated its commitment to the Y-K region by prioritizing local hiring, preserving the region's way of life, and participating in community programs. Donlin Gold also is one of the four principal sponsors of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
Donlin Gold is living up to their motto: "Every Person Going Home Safe and Healthy Every Day." For seven consecutive years, Donlin Gold has been honored with the Barrick Merit of Safety Award, a distinction that recognizes 365 days of zero loss-time incidents. Additionally, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development recognized Donlin Gold with an award for accomplishing more than a million work hours with zero loss-time incidents; the project has now achieved more than 2 million hours worked without a loss-time incident.
"NOVOGOLD has established itself as an exemplar in the mining industry by demonstrating that high standards lead to a successful business model that benefits employees, their families, the projects' communities, and their shareholders," said AEMA Executive Director Laura Skaer. "Additionally, receiving the first single, multi-agency ROD makes Donlin Gold a landmark project that illustrates the tremendous success of One Federal Decision. AEMA is proud to recognize NOVAGOLD for their exceptional Donlin Gold project."
About AEMA:
Founded 123 years ago, AEMA is headquartered in Spokane, WA. It is a 2,000-member national association representing the minerals industry with members residing in 42 U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces, and 10 other countries.