Page 5 - NOVAGOLD 2014 Annual Report

Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan
chairman
For our 2014 annual report, NOVAGOLD’s management team responded to the questions investors ask most – even the tough ones. Their answers just might surprise you.
You have said for several years that Donlin Gold is the most important pure gold project in development today. That’s a bold statement. What gives you both such strong conviction?
Dr. Kaplan: I’ve been blessed over the past two decades to have made a fine living in natural resources as a consequence of three main factors: surrounding myself with some of the highest quality people in
the sector, focusing on “category-killer” assets when their sector is out of favor, and having the conviction
to wait for the big payday when the fundamentals and sentiment intersect. From silver and platinum to hydrocarbons, my team and I have had the privilege of finding or gaining significant influence over some of the most attractive mining and energy assets in the world. The common characteristic of the best of these assets is that they were extraordinary in one or more attributes that rendered them must-own vehicles when sentiment returned to our space. Simply put, Donlin Gold combines more of these attributes than any of
the other strategic properties with which I’ve ever been involved – especially if one wants exposure to gold. Indeed, from a gold bull’s perspective, it’s just about perfect.
Mr. Lang: While Tom comes at Donlin Gold as an investor who has developed something of a franchise in world-class assets, I’m an engineer and operator who has been equally fortunate to work with some of the most experienced individuals in the gold industry and on some of its greatest assets. I ran Barrick’s top assets – their North American operations – as president for eight years before joining NOVAGOLD as president
and CEO. It was a great job and it wasn’t an easy decision to leave. In essence, I had spent the majority of my 30-year career coming up the ranks with Barrick and the companies it had acquired, Homestake Mining and International Corona.
NOVAGOLD’s operating management team is among the most solid in their credentials and pedigree as any you’ll find in our space: David Deisley, who joined us from Goldcorp; David Ottewell, who joined us from Newmont; and Richard Williams, who joined us from Barrick right after bringing the mammoth Pueblo Viejo project into production. They all left their senior positions at these companies because they too see in Donlin Gold what I do: that is, from a geological, engineering, legal, and operator’s standpoint, we can say with equal conviction that Donlin Gold is a truly unique and attractive gold asset in an era defined by quality asset scarcity.
Donlin Gold is “truly unique?” How so?
Dr. Kaplan and Mr. Lang: Not many assets check all the boxes like Donlin Gold does. It has size, extraordinary grade, industry-leading projected output, excellent exploration upside, a low-cost structure, a company-making mine life, strong local partnerships, extraordinary leverage to gold, and what has become the holy grail in mining: jurisdictional safety. For all these reasons, we believe Donlin Gold to be the best and safest gold development project in the world.
Gregory A. Lang
president
and chief executive officer
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