공지 • Nov 25
NovaGold Resources Inc. Announces the Final Assay Results from the 2025 Donlin Gold Drill Program
NovaGold Resources Inc. announced the final assay results from the 2025 Donlin Gold drill program, marking a significant milestone in the advancement of what is anticipated to be America’s largest gold mine. Additionally, NOVAGOLD achieved two significant permitting milestones with the acceptance of Donlin Gold into the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s FAST-41 program — an important step to ensure a transparent, accountable, and predictable process for conducting the supplemental environmental analysis requested by the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska — and a favorable ruling from the Alaska Supreme Court affirming both the project’s water rights and the Department of Natural Resources’ approval of the State ROW lease for the proposed 316-mile natural gas pipeline. The 2025 Donlin Gold drill program was expanded to support the updated resource model and advance the BFS, reinforcing the project’s long-term development strategy. Work centered on three key areas: grid drilling to refine mine-planning inputs; in-pit exploration drilling to strengthen geological modelling and resource conversion; and geotechnical drilling, including pit wall and material site assessments for the planned access road — all essential to the BFS. Supported by a team of about 80 locally hired staff and external contractors, the 2025 drill program intersected multiple zones of high-grade gold mineralization. The findings contribute vital inputs for engineering work, mine planning, and resource modelling — marking an important milestone on the Company’s path to a BFS. The top five intervals from the final set of 2025 assays include: DC25-2262 intersected 41.09m grading 3.06 g/t gold starting at 387.96 m drilled depth. The true width of mineralization across this interval is estimated to be 35.87 m. DC25-2262 intersected 21.03 m grading 4.51 g/t gold starting at 354.09 m drilled depth. The true width of mineralization across this interval is estimated to be 18.16 m. DC25-2275 intersected 4.38 m grading 26.22 g/t gold starting at 165.95 m drilled depth. The true width of mineralization across this interval is estimated to be 3.15 m. DC25-2263 intersected 27.43 m grading 4.14 gold starting at 381.17 m drilled depth. The true width of mineralization across this interval is estimated to be 17.72 m. DC25-2267 intersected 13.89 m grading 7.08 g/t gold starting at 442.67 m drilled depth. The true width of mineralization across this interval is estimated to be 12.87 m. The program included 19 infill holes in the previously drilled East ACMA grid (2021) totaling 5,079 meters, aimed at verifying short scale continuity of mineralization and improving resource confidence and key inputs for mine planning. In-pit exploration comprised 24 holes totaling 10,370 meters, targeting areas of the pit containing Inferred Resources with the potential to be converted to Indicated Resources. Geotechnical drilling comprised four holes totaling 2,607 meters for pit wall stability analysis and mine design, and an additional 26 holes totaling 399 meters of drilling on the material sites for construction of the access road from the Jungjuk port on the Kuskokwim River to Donlin Gold. All drilling was conducted using core methods to ensure precision and high-quality geological data. On October 27, 2025, Donlin Gold was formally accepted into the FAST-41 program, a federal initiative that enhances transparency, accountability, and predictability in the federal permitting process. Established in 2015, FAST-41 ensures that permitting timelines are clearly defined, publicly available and coordinated among federal agencies, while maintaining every existing environmental safeguard and regulatory requirement. This designation is expected to result in a more efficient permitting timeline and reflects the strategic importance of Donlin Gold as a responsible and key economic development project in Alaska. As part of the acceptance, Donlin Gold is now listed on the Federal Permitting Dashboard in connection with the project’s Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). In 2025, the U.S. Alaska District Court directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to supplement the current Environmental Impact Statement with an analysis of a larger theoretical tailings dam release, while leaving Donlin Gold’s federal permits in place. As part of the ongoing federal review, the USACE, in consultation with BLM, will lead the SEIS process to conduct this analysis. This transparent, science-based review is designed to provide both the public and decision-makers with complete and accurate information. While most projects that are accepted into FAST-41 program are at the initial stages of permitting, Donlin Gold has been deeply engaged in permitting for over a decade and has received most of its state and federal permits. Donlin’s inclusion in the FAST-41 program is focused on ensuring a transparent, accountable, and predictable process for the federal agencies’ supplemental environmental analysis requested by the Court. Bankable Feasibility Study Update: The Request for Proposals for the BFS work was issued in the third quarter to engineering firms with the expertise to deliver a project of this scale. Proposals were received last month, and Donlin Gold remains on track to select a top-tier engineering firm to lead the BFS in the coming months. The comprehensive data generated from this year’s drill program will further strengthen the foundation to be used for mine planning, engineering, and resource modelling.