Donlin Gold proposes to build a 315 mile (500 km) long natural gas pipeline from the Cook Inlet to its mine site in central Alaska.
Donlin Gold is proposing to build a buried natural gas pipeline to supply natural gas to the project. The 14-inch steel pipeline would transport natural gas from the Cook Inlet region, over the Alaska Range, to the project site. Temporary roads and stream or river crossings would be necessary during pipeline construction. The project would require an average of more than 150 megawatts of electricity to power the mill and facilities. The power would be produced using on-site natural gas fired generation. Donlin Gold is expected to be one of just a handful of gold mines worldwide that produces more than one million ounces of gold annually. The permitting process has just started and is expected to last 3 years, with construction slated to begin in 2016.
Completion of an economically and technically viable Feasibility Study in 2011 was a significant milestone for the Donlin Gold project. It reaffirmed Donlin’s position among the world’s most significant new gold mines while also confirming the technical and economic viability of the natural gas pipeline. The $6.7 B capital project has $834 million slated for the natural gas pipeline.
Donlin Gold is one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposits. Located in the historic Kuskowkim Gold Belt of Southwest Alaska, 10 miles north of the Middle Kuskokwim River village of Crooked Creek, the project is owned and managed by Donlin Gold LLC, which is owned equally by wholly-owned subsidiaries of NOVAGOLD (ticker NG) and Barrick Gold Corporation .
The Donlin Gold property comprises more than 80,600 acres (32,600 hectares) of land leased for mining from Alaska Native corporations and 31,280 acres (12,650 hectares) of Alaska State mining claims. Donlin Gold has land lease agreements with Calista Corporation, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation which has the subsurface land rights, and The Kuskokwim Corporation, which has surface land rights as per the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.