Incentive To Partner? In one video, Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, and Ronald Thiessen, CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals, talked about the future of the proposed Donlin Gold mine. On the recording, Collier said that the Donlin mine was too expensive to build, even with the gold prices set at $1,934 per ounce on Sept. 21.
Comment: US $975 for mineral reserve. See second link below.
Collier said that one way for Donlin to cut down costs would be to build a nearly 180 mile road from the Donlin mine site to the Pebble mine site in order to ship Donlin’s ore to a port in in the Bristol Bay region. Collier said that the state could finance the road and port, which Collier said would be a big win for both companies.
Comment: Donlin Gold will produce dore at their mine. Not ore for shipment. See third link below. State could finance the road and port?
“Because when you flip the Pebble switch on, that means you could flip the Donlin switch,” Collier said.
Comment: Simplistic.
In the secret recordings, Northern Dynasty Minerals’s Thiessen said that they haven’t formally approached Donlin Gold with the idea.
“We’ve had a couple of discussions, but really we need to get to the point where we have our ROD in place,” Thiessen said.
Comment: How about attempting to get a meet when all authorizations, permits, financial assurance, legislative approval, mineral reserve classification and a mining partner with finances is secured.
ROD refers to the final record of decision from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected soon.
Donlin Gold declined an interview and sent a written statement instead.
“Donlin Gold continues to advance on a stand-alone basis and is not engaged with any other projects. We remain completely confident in our proposal and its economics, which has advanced through the federal and state permitting process, and are not proposing any modifications at this time,” it said.
Comment: Barrick is a mining company with likely no interest in anything to do with Pebble. Donlin has a proven/probable mineral reserve classification.
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/09/21/in-secret-recordings-pebble-mine-execs-say-donlin-mine-is-too-expensive-to-build/
https://www.novagold.com/_resources/reserves_resources.pdf?v=3.5
https://www.novagold.com/properties/donlin_gold/infrastructure/