One of the world’s biggest undeveloped gold mines now has a single owner

NOVAGOLD expects to complete its purchase of the rest of the Donlin Gold project in Alaska at 12:01 a.m. Vancouver time on 1 December, it said on 10 November. It is buying the 40% held by Paulson Advisers and affiliates, taking its interest from 60% to 100%. A newly incorporated Delaware company, NovaGold Corporation, will become the parent and is expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange as “NG” on 2 December.

The steps

From NOVAGOLD’s 10 November release, filed with the SEC. Completion is subject to customary closing conditions.

Donlin by the numbers

The release puts measured and indicated resources at about 40 million ounces of gold, about 560 million tonnes at 2.22 grams per tonne on a 100% basis. NOVAGOLD’s 2025 technical report anticipates average output of more than one million ounces a year over a 27-year mine life “if put into production.” A deposit that large, at that grade, in a mining-friendly US state is rare, which is why Donlin is usually described as one of the biggest undeveloped gold projects in the world.

Why it matters

A project with two owners needs both to agree on every big decision, from studies to spending to when to build. With one owner, those decisions sit with a single board. The release does not give the price paid or how the new company’s shares will be split between existing holders and Paulson, and it gives no reason for the sale, so we do not speculate on either side’s motives.

The move to a US parent and a main NYSE listing fits a wider pattern of gold miners looking to US investors. Barrick plans to file this month for an IPO of North American Barrick, holding its Nevada interests and Pueblo Viejo (see Barrick’s big split).

What stands between Donlin and production

Ownership is not a mine. The release’s own list of risks names what is still to come: an updated bankable feasibility study, a draft supplemental environmental impact statement, additional permits and government approvals, financing for the feasibility work, and a construction decision. It gives no date for any of them. Donlin is in a remote part of western Alaska, and large remote projects tend to need costly infrastructure before they produce. Until those steps are done, the 40 million ounces is a resource, not production.

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Every figure here is as reported by the publications listed under Sources, at the time they reported it. Prices move; the live gold price has the current one. Nothing on this page is investment advice.