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windfall that may come if we have another severe economic crisis and gold powers higher while most commodities collapse? It’s not so difficult to imagine. Such a dichotomy actually happened during the last financial crisis. Gold – a currency – held its own or went up, while much more economically sensitive commodities fell.
There is no worse feeling than being right on the investment thesis and having the successful investment taken away from you. I know, it’s dark. But you asked.
18 NOVAGOLD’s share price has outpaced the GDXJ by a wide margin. How should a prospective investor look at NOVAGOLD compared to other gold development companies?
Given all of Donlin’s merits, I believe we should outperform, and it is our job to work toward that outperformance. In an era marked by scarcity value in the gold development space, I believe that Donlin is sui generis. Show me another project that combines, in one single package, the following attributes: size, exploration potential, grade, production profile, low all-in operating costs, a mine life measured in decades, and excellent local partners? Wrap this all up with the bow of jurisdictional safety and you have not just the best in breed, but something I believe is truly unique. If I am right and the ideal gold stock is one with a world-class asset located in the safest jurisdiction in the world, it’s game, set, and match for Donlin.
Moreover, the management team that we have assembled is simply outstanding. Greg’s executive suite is among the finest in the business – a reality that is reflected in their performance. NOVAGOLD represents a very rare case of a mining company continuing every day, month, and year to honor its pledge to do the right thing for its shareholders. Having witnessed the price that the industry has paid for its follies, I believe there is a very special place – and premium share price – reserved for gold miners who deliver on their promises. Superimposed onto this observation is my equally strong belief that we are in the final stage of a correction within a secular bull market in gold. While that doesn’t mean that all gold mining companies will do well going forward, I am convinced that the special nature of NOVAGOLD means that ours will continue to outperform. As the largest investor in the company as well as its chairman, I believe that the upside case is clear in a bullish gold price environment. Having found or taken control in the past of great deposits in silver, platinum, and hydrocarbons that multiplied in value, I really do know whereof I speak. Donlin constitutes a truly great treasure, and then some. I believe it is in a league of its own, which makes NOVAGOLD an exceptionally special situation worthy of consideration for anyone’s portfolio – specialist or generalist. The market may just be seeing it that way too.
Dr. Thomas Kaplan
Chairman, Board of Directors
February 3, 2020
The sun sets on sleeper tents at the Donlin Gold project site, 10 miles north of Crooked Creek in the historic Kuskokwim Gold Belt of southwestern Alaska. Placer gold was first discovered at nearby Snow Gulch, a tributary of Donlin Creek, in 1909 during a rush to the George River by miners from the Iditarod-Flat District.