Q1 2023 NovaGold Resources Inc Earnings Call
Speaker 1: The.
Speaker 1: The F.
Speaker 1: I.
Speaker 2: Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NOAA Gold 2023 First Quarter Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded.
Speaker 2: After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero.
Speaker 2: Webcast viewers may submit questions through the text box in the lower right corner of the webcast frame.
Speaker 2: Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Melanie Hennessey, Vice President, Corporate Communications. Please go ahead. Melanie Hennessey Captioning
Speaker 3: Thank you, Chia. Good morning, everyone. We are pleased that you've joined us for NOVA Gold's 2023 first quarter financial results and also for an update on the DALA Gold project. On today's call, we have Dr. Thomas Kaplan, NOVA Gold's chairman, Greg Lang, NOVA Gold's president and CEO .
Speaker 3: and David Ottawa, Nova Gold's Vice President and CFO .
Speaker 3: At the end of the webcast, we will take questions by phone and by email. Additionally, we will respond to other questions received subsequent to the call by email.
Speaker 3: I would like to remind our webcast and call participants that as stated on slide 3, any statements made today may contain board looking information, such as projections and goals, which are likely to involve risks detailed in our various Edgar and CDER filings.
Speaker 3: and forward looking at this claimers included in this presentation.
Speaker 3: I now have the pleasure of turning the presentation over to our President and CEO , Greg Waning. Right? It's no surprise we are!
Speaker 4: Thank you, Melanie.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Melanie. Thanks for having me, everyone.
Speaker 4: All of us at Nova Gold take great pride in the fact that we are all part of the same
Speaker 4: that we have been laser focused and very successful.
Speaker 4: on executing the strategy set forth by our chairman and myself over a decade ago.
Speaker 4: mainly to unlock NovaGo's high quality assets.
Speaker 4: for our shareholders and dedicate our energy to creating the maximum leverage from a pure gold play on the unique endowment that is the Gomley Gold Project.
Speaker 4: This has been a foundation of our investment pieces.
Speaker 4: Show them on slide five.
Speaker 4: We have been steadily advancing diamond growth up the value chain in various areas over the past decade.
Speaker 4: These areas conclude the completion of the 43-101 Technical Report.
Speaker 4: And the update to the selected feasibility study.
Speaker 4: The receipt of a joint record of decision from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management.
Speaker 4: as well as other major federal comets.
Speaker 4: And most recently...
Speaker 4: We completed the largest drill program at Domino.
Speaker 4: in over 15 years. We believe that the Diamond Gold Project is truly the best in class in its combination of attributes, which are shown on slide 6.
Speaker 4: Possessing the unique combination of industry-leading science and grading.
Speaker 4: Excellent.
Speaker 4: Exploration potential, which will move the needle in our gold industry.
Speaker 4: And all of this in a safe and time-tested jurisdiction.
Speaker 4: Alaska!
Speaker 4: is a great location to develop, build, and operate a mine.
Speaker 4: for many generations to come.
Speaker 4: In my view, it really is the ultimate company maker.
Speaker 4: I've really envisioned Donnan would average over a million actions per year of production in 27 years.
Speaker 4: We're looking at the other developer groups as shown on slide 7.
Speaker 4: Diamond is by far and away the largest and gold production continues to decline for most of the top producers.
Speaker 4: It's clear.
Speaker 4: The industry needs projects with scale, grade, and longevity to sustain themselves.
Speaker 4: If you're on slide 8...
Speaker 4: The industry average grade for an open pit? Once in production, Donlin would be one of the lowest cost producers in the gold industry. Turn and slide by.
Speaker 4: The leverage to a higher gold price is exceptional at Donner.
Speaker 4: Leverage to a higher gold price is exceptional at Don. Can the debt be Chronic?
Speaker 4: At today's gold price, it's over $7 billion.
Speaker 4: at a 5% discount rate or $22 billion on discount rates.
Speaker 4: The Great Exploration Potential is another remarkable attribute.
Speaker 4: Backman moves.
Speaker 4: The deposits as shown on slide 10 occupy less than half of an 8 kilometer mineralized old bill which itself is located on less than 5%.
Speaker 4: The bottom flying position.
Speaker 4: A testament to the excellent exploration potential were the results from last year's program.
Speaker 4: As shown on slide 11.
Speaker 4: The top 20 intersects, returning some of the best assay results seen today at Donlin, and the best reporting in the entire industry last year.
Speaker 4: intersects, returning some of the best assay results seen today at Donlin and the best reporting in the entire industry last year....
Speaker 4: Pull 2068 in a divide groove. Return 42 meters.
Speaker 4: and over 30 grams, including a shot barrel bolt of 23 meters.
Speaker 4: at 54 grams.
Speaker 4: It's highlighted on slide 11.
Speaker 4: Incredible oxide exists to increase houses and expand the mine line.
Speaker 4: Location is truly key.
Speaker 4: Having great leverage in a place where you can keep the fruits of your leverage is worth the investment in time and in resources.
Speaker 4: On the mat, include on slide 12.
Speaker 4: We feature some of the top three gold producing operations in the world and the five largest gold development projects.
Speaker 4: As private landowners, both Chilister and TKG are dedicated to developing diamond gold in a way that remains consistent.
Speaker 4: with the elders vision of responsible development.
Speaker 4: not creating jobs and economic benefits for the surrounding communities, as well as protecting the local culture.
Speaker 4: A few of the quotes are provided on slide 13 from the leaders of both Alaska Native corporations.
Speaker 4: their knowledge, guidance, and engagement.
Speaker 4: I extend the value of entering the responsible and sustainable economic development.
Speaker 4: throughout all phases of the Diamond and Gold Project.
Speaker 4: I will now touch on some of the milestones that were achieved and the key activities of the first quarter.
Speaker 4: The Diamond Gold 2023 Field Program commenced early in the year to complete the necessary build work and geotechnical drilling required for the ElastiBand safety circuit.
Speaker 4: Powers!
Speaker 4: additional work. You put it on site, hydrological billing, further defined.
Speaker 4: flows of groundwater in the areas that the plan does not exist.
Speaker 4: and ceramic infrastructure to support mine finding and design.
Speaker 4: Common Gold prioritizes local hiring and invests in supporting the community throughout the RESCUE.
Speaker 4: During the first quarter of our 2023 field program, we had a total of what forced the 44 direct power employees.
Speaker 4: most of which are from the project region. This is a continuation of the success of Donlin's local hiring program, which was initiated very early on during the exploration phase.
Speaker 4: Our focus outside is four key areas.
Speaker 4: as shown on slide 16.
Speaker 4: First, mine optimization. We are finalizing the updated geologic and resource models with the grill results from last two years.
Speaker 4: And we are incorporating those into the key project assumptions inputs.
Speaker 4: and design components for optimization.
Speaker 4: Ultimately, this supports the decision to proceed with an updated feasibility study.
Speaker 4: Community engagement is also a very active area of ours, working alongside with our Alaska Native Corporation partners.
Speaker 4: Permitting, we continue to advance our permits through the regulatory process in supporting the state in maintaining the existing permits.
Speaker 4: We're also very active with bipartisan outreach to the Biden administration.
Speaker 4: members of the US Congress.
Speaker 4: and the state administration of the OS.
Speaker 4: Assisting and partnering with local communities and regions has been a constant focus of Don N secure.
Speaker 4: working in concert with Chulista and TKC to provide critical support.
Speaker 4: I show on slide 17.
Speaker 4: Donand was premiered spot through at the Iron Dog Race, and was part of the Alaska State matters with the Sreb??, and was
Speaker 4: Also in collaboration with Covenant House and Bethel Community Services.
Speaker 4: Don is developing an action plan to help address the chronic.
Speaker 4: action plan to help address the chronic and ongoing needs.
Speaker 5: Don.
Speaker 4: insecurity in housing and other issues.
Speaker 4: just to name a few. In partnership with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, government is advancing efforts to improve the overall health and safety standards on water and sewage services.
Speaker 4: in the middle of Cusickling Village. In collaboration with PKC and the Village of Crooked Creek.
Speaker 4: Donald provided finance to support for the construction and maintenance of ice world.
Speaker 4: to allow winter travel between remote communities.
Speaker 4: On average, a total of 300 miles of ice road is constructed and maintained thanks to this program.
Speaker 4: Advancing educational opportunities in Alaska is another priority for the company.
Speaker 4: Advancing educational opportunities in Alaska is another priority for the company. You should be awarded...
Speaker 4: the first Nobel gold scholarship at the University of Alaska to an undergraduate student studying geology at the University of Alaska engineer.
Speaker 4: We also support the Alaska Excel program, a nonprofit.
Speaker 4: providing educational support for rural youth across the region. In March of this year, we released our 2022 annual report.
Speaker 4: This is a special conversation between Dr. Kaplan.
Speaker 4: and Daniela Kenburn, editor-at-large and host of the Daniela Kenburn show on Stansbury Research.
Speaker 4: And so on on Flight 18.
Speaker 4: Their discussion covers a broad range of topics, including geopolitics.
Speaker 4: history, markets.
Speaker 4: and opportunities in the world space and central banks of the largest islands of the world, possibly and historically.
Speaker 4: and the corresponding upside to the premier development stories. The interview was recorded at the New York Stock Exchange and a full transcript is available in our annual report.
Speaker 4: Those interested in watching the video can access BMW on our website, www.moverworld.com.
Speaker 4: With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO , David Arwell.
Speaker 4: With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO , David Arwell. Nate? Nate's
Speaker 6: Thank you, Greg. Slide 20 highlights our first quarter operating performance.
Speaker 6: We reported a net loss of $10.7 million and a quarter.
Speaker 6: a $0.7 million increase due to increased interest expense on the promissory note, I heard Donlin permitting costs
Speaker 6: higher corporate legal expenses, partially offset by increased interest income, and income from the 2021 sale of our interest in the San Roque Mineral Property.
Speaker 6: First quarter cash flows are highlighted on slide 21.
Speaker 6: cash decreased by 9.7 million, primarily to fund our share of dominance and for corporate administrative expenses.
Speaker 6: The decrease in cash used in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022 was due to the timing of corporate liability insurance payments in 2022, withholding tax paid on share-based compensation in 2022.
Speaker 6: and proceeds received in 2023 for the sale of San Roque.
Speaker 6: No shares were issued in the first quarter of 2023 for the PSUs granted in December 2019, as the company's share performance over the three-year period was below the minimum performance criteria relative to the Global Gold Index.
Speaker 6: On slide 22, we note our strong treasure. Our financial position includes cash of $54 million, term deposits of $62 million, and $25 million due from Newmont in July 2023. For the full year, we continue to expand $35 million to $
Speaker 4: Gate.
Speaker 4: Turning to slide 23.
Speaker 4: The focus of our activities this year will be one, updating the geologic and resource models.
Speaker 4: activities this year will be one, updating the geologic and resource models, continuing our summit inning howku
Speaker 4: collecting geotechnical and hydrological information to support dam safety.
Speaker 4: The hydrological information to support danc-sort of applications.
Speaker 4: reviewing key project assumptions and inputs and design components, or optimization in mine engineering, metallurgy, and infrastructure.
Speaker 4: We will continue to advance current permits through regulatory process.
Speaker 4: And support the state in defending the existing permits.
Speaker 4: Lastly, we will continue to engage, maintain, and grow support for the project in the region.
Speaker 4: The bell has been blessed with long term and supported shareholders.
Speaker 4: comprising many of the most respected names in the investment world, whose presence and counsel have been invaluable.
Speaker 4: Some of these are listed on slide 24.
Speaker 4: We are grateful for their decision to invest in the company and for their continued interest and engagement.
Speaker 4: We refer to all of them, from the stewards at the company. We continue to be focused on delivering on our strategy and enhancing value with the Valgold project.
Speaker 4: Increasing both shareholding and stay coer well in the shape and socially responsible area.
Speaker 4: And we positioned the company to enjoy the food transit meat leverage on what we believe.
Speaker 4: is one of the best positioned goal development stories in the marketplace.
Speaker 4: I look forward to continuing to deliver on our promises and keeping an open line of communication between us.
Speaker 4: as we reach even more milestones in 2023.
Speaker 4: I will now turn the call over to the operator and open it up for questions.
Speaker 2: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer question. To join the question, Q, you may press star, then one, on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request.
Speaker 2: If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys.
Speaker 2: To withdraw your questions, please bring it AR then to. We will pause a moment as the callers join the queue.
Speaker 2: The first question comes from Mike Parkin from National Bank. Please go ahead. This has been a recording from Report Line welcome to Americans Norway whereX rider Hamilton Directory released a list of was rocking my moto quote. This Ole. Tial. T Morgan Siberia Flexible screws on the body sat and N
Speaker 2: The first question comes from Mike Parkin from National Bank. Please go ahead.
Speaker 7: Hi guys, thanks. We're taking questions. It might be a bit early for people to ask this, but I'm wondering what some of the higher-level trade-off studies might be, considering that you're moving forward in 2023. I'm just looking for some sense of, you know, some of the bigger kinds of delta MS.
Speaker 4: but we've also focused on the gas pipeline.
Speaker 4: and discover the big T cash component to the capital.
Speaker 4: But in addition to the infrastructure, we've been trying to work with invented options on flotation and a lot of validation work from the flow sheet metal Parmeis project.
Speaker 4: So, we're also looking at you - optimizing mining based on the great growth results we've had this year. Specifically, what opportunities are out there to enhance the parade by more selectively smaller mining privilege clarity? We've demonstrated that the high grades really do exist at the Valing Le L.
Speaker 4: We look forward to updating everybody on the study since three weeks, I think.
Speaker 4: And we look forward to updating everybody on the study system in the weeks to come. Thanks, Greg, for that.
Speaker 3: I have some questions that I submitted by email. The first one will be for you, Greg.
Speaker 3: When would you expect the investment decision will be made on the dollar-fold project?
Speaker 4: Let me give you the timeline of the studies. And then, we're wrapping up various trade-off studies. Now, for that of preparing the GE logic model.
Speaker 4: All of these studies and the WHO model will be presented in the Donom Bo board are the only said put in the next couple of months, and the excess will be in a position that we have to go through that more we done P it.
Speaker 3: Great, the other question was what the element lost around to the formidable project that only makes it directed towards the break.
Speaker 4: Right further. Your questions upon the o GA costs and cur are the most recent refresh in the 43 wild m. I would like my good average about $630 an ounce.
Speaker 4: We would expect them to be a little bit more competitive and lower in the first two years than nine months. Not to a higher grade, it will be minor, but there on the loan, Sen just peri.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Before we proceed to the final question, we have a group of sites on the line that is wanting to ask a question. Health Creator?
Speaker 2: The next question comes from Lucas Pipes from B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.
Speaker 7: Thank you very much operator. Thank you Melanie. Good morning everyone. I started to ask my question and Melanie, I appreciate you opening up the queue there. So I wanted to ask about reserves and resources and the context of the updated feasibility study.
Speaker 7: Do you expect changes to those measures, and then would you anticipate any changes in the cutoff grade? Thank you very much for your perspective, Greg.
Speaker 4: Alright, let me, you operate that in your couple pieces with this set. You know, the very heads that you really delivered to Knai's rates, I think if anything they were, you know, they slightly enhanced the great overall value of the puzzle.
Speaker 4: Most of this drilling is really dealing with our partners' due diligence. You know, Donovan has been the company to know the gold for many years. We know the asset very intimately. And the drilling and trade-off studies that we've been conducting, have been really dealing with our partners' due diligence.
Speaker 4: And I think through the trade-off studies and the drilling that they've been insightful about, I would say it's more validated than changed our view of the project. I think, you know, certainly from the Nova Gold point of view, we've been a supportive partner, we've answered their geologic and meteorology stereostation. Certainly from my perspective, we've been a supportive partner.
Speaker 4: the next logical step for the owners is to receive a new feasibility study. And that would hopefully be another way later this year. Thank you very much Greg and to you and the team continued best of luck.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Greg, and to you and the team, continued best of luck.
Speaker 3: Can we have two more questions in line with this? First is for Greg. You mentioned outreach to government and companies. Do you expect any changes to their attitudes?
Speaker 3: Washington to the resource sector as the world has changed since Biden became president.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I think I'll speak, I'll answer that. When you're from a dominant perspective, your dominant has always maintained and nurtured bipartisan support, both in the state of Alaska and in our nation's capital.
Speaker 4: It's a very staunch effort toward the project. And I think the Biden administration has not always been supportive of mining projects. They certainly have been supportive of dominant. And I think we have certainly been asked and the administration is very supportive.
Speaker 4: And if I did, the administration would approve to make sure that...
Speaker 4: That's a list of some development on the call upon. So, I think they're cautious, but I think they support responsible time development and responsiveness. So what I say has really had a note impact on our activities: the agent administration.
Speaker 3: Great. Thank you. The final question is for Dr. Kaplan. What is your view on the direction of the gold price over the next fall to 24 months?
Speaker 6: Hello everyone, I hope that you can see me and hear me. Melanie, can I assume that everyone can? You can. Okay, great. Well, you know, I think it's fair to say...
Speaker 6: that I have been a long-standing gold pole for over 20 years.
Speaker 6: I've seen gold go from $250 an ounce to $1,900 an ounce in what I called phase one.
Speaker 6: We saw, for want of a better word...
Speaker 6: Wave 2 as a correction that took gold from 1900 back to 1100.
Speaker 6: and now we're section wave 3 which I believe
Speaker 6: is going to be a long way. I'm not saying that we're not going to have knuckle whitening corrections along the way. That's the nature of the market.
Speaker 6: But I do believe that we're headed for a trajectory that will be marked by ASA.
Speaker 6: First, a multiplication of the gold price.
Speaker 6: second in long, long duration. In other words, wave one in gold.
Speaker 6: second in long, long duration. In other words, wave one in gold for 12 years.
Speaker 6: Take go to higher classes every year, regardless of the circumstances that we normally think are so deterministic to goal.
Speaker 6: There were times of interest rate fears, dollar fears.
Speaker 6: commodities fears, geopolitical stories, regardless of which way you were leaning in terms of the macros.
Speaker 6: Gold was up every year, year on year for 12 years. That's a bull market.
Speaker 6: If you see a stock go from $2.50 to $19 and it corrects down to $11, you're not really shocked
Speaker 6: But both of those waves, the character halts fighting for more than a decade in duration.
Speaker 6: The next wave in gold, maybe we're seeing it, maybe we need one more head bank, I don't know. But the next wave in gold, I think, takes it to my long-term target of $3,000 to $5,000. And I say long-term because I said that when gold was at $250,000.
Speaker 6: The truth is that if gold were to go much higher, I would not be at all surprised. One thing is very clear to me, and this pertains to the investment pieces for movable.
Speaker 6: Gold is going to go up.
Speaker 6: For the next 10 to 20 years. That's what the charts are telling us, and the charts for a historian are like looking at human brain waves. You don't have to be a technician; I'm a fundamentalist, obviously, by definition.
Speaker 6: But being a historian, it's all about cycles, reversals, and the way that markets will carry on from the depths of despair to the heights of irrational exuberance. We could easily see gold with five digits.
Speaker 6: But in order to do that we still have to get through 3,000 to 5,000. So, you know, I'll update my estimates when we get there.
Speaker 6: But the point that I would like to mention to our shareholders is as follows.
Speaker 6: I came into this story the beginning, the first week in January , actually December 31st, 2008.
Speaker 6: when Electrum effectively...
Speaker 6: when Electrum effectively took...
Speaker 6: Control as the dominant shareholder of Nova Gold. Nova Gold had been a company that had gone through 50 cents a share to $20, and we had not participated in it, nor did we participate.
Speaker 6: in shorting the stock, it's not something that we do when it went from 20 back to a buck. 50 cents actually at one point. The asset or that the company had multiple issues. Bifaction lawsuits, environmental issues on assets not relating to Donland.
Speaker 6: The balance sheet was terrible. Institutions couldn't punch.
Speaker 6: Electrum was able to do that because we're a family business, in essence, our family, plus several large Arab sovereign wealth funds and employee capital.
Speaker 6: until we could catch the falling night.
Speaker 6: until we could catch the falling night. And we turned that story around.
Speaker 6: We dealt with the environmental issues with the EPA by selling off a project. We spun off the Lord to Newmont realizing great value for the shareholders, making NovaGold a pure play on what we call the new Carlin with an Unevada.
Speaker 6: We settled the class action lawsuits, we changed the entire management team, culminating in being able to get the President of Barrick, North America, who knew the asset better than anyone else - could we have been on the other side of the table in Barrick - made a.
Speaker 6: failed hostile takeover through We brought in Richard Williams who had built the Pueblo Viejo mine the largest ever made by Barrett and something which Barrett talks about even expanding now in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 6: And the stock went back to $15 within the space of a couple of years.
Speaker 6: Obviously, the last decade has been very, very tough.
Speaker 6: for gold mining shares. We haven't been immune to that. We're not unusual in that respect. The ratio of gold to gold mining equities is pretty much as low as it's ever been.
Speaker 6: So what I would say is this, several things. Number one, we're going to bullmark it and go.
Speaker 6: Number two, it's going to last for a very long time, well over a decade.
Speaker 6: Number three, we will see a revaluation of gold assets. Number four, I've been in the story for 14 years and contrary to suffering from any form of deal to keep, I'm more excited about about Gongland than ever before.
Speaker 6: And I'd like to explain why because it ties into a bow some of the other four aspects which I just mentioned. We're in a very very different world.
Speaker 6: my friends, shareholders, my colleagues.
Speaker 6: Those who follow NovaGold, let me be very, very...
Speaker 6: over gold, let me be very, very blunt.
Speaker 6: The era of the frontier mentality, the era where geology trumps geopolitics is over.
Speaker 6: The era of the frontier mentality. The era where geology trumps geopolitics is over. Over.
Speaker 6: the assets that will achieve the premium valuations, which will be valued like they were before the frontier spirits took hold when New Month went beyond the Cochua and the go where the gold isn't in capital between prevalent.
Speaker 6: at that time
Speaker 6: People forget.
Speaker 6: US assets were valued using the 0% discount rate because they were the height of political safety.
Speaker 6: They were arbitraged with the less politically safe jurisdictions, Canada, Australia, and South Africa.
Speaker 6: The world is very, very different now. I happen to believe that in almost everywhere, other than in North America, Australia, you know, in a few jurisdictions, the gold mines will be nationalised.
Speaker 6: Gold is money. You don't have to be a gold bug to believe that.
Speaker 6: It's money because the central banks say it's money and they are the ultimate insider traders. The fact that central banks no longer sell gold but are massive net buyers. And I'm talking smart money that Chinese Singapore not to mention.
Speaker 6: you know, other countries that fear being part of the US dollar system only, and they've seen that that has its own hazards.
Speaker 6: the era when people could go all over the world and think that they're going to mine gold.
Speaker 6: And not have a gun put to their head to change those agreements.
Speaker 6: have a gun put to their head to change those agreements. They're over.
Speaker 6: I made my bones in Bolivia. I made my bones in Zimbabwe, South Africa. I sold the body to my colleague, Mark Richter.
Speaker 6: I know what it's like operating in these areas.
Speaker 6: what it's like operating in these areas. And I admire those who still do it.
Speaker 6: But there's no way that one can go to sleep at night feeling comfortable. When you wake up in the morning, you're going to open the same things that lay there the night before.
Speaker 6: But there's no way one can go to sleep at night feeling comfortable. When you wake up in the morning, you're going to open the same thing that was long the night before. Gold, this old money, will be nationalized.
Speaker 6: And jurisdiction will always be so. That brings us back to dumb. Let's understand what Dunland is. Let's understand why it's the best by the gold. Let's understand why, when people really caught on to the fact that gold has embarked upon another long wave.
Speaker 6: They're going to be asking their brokers, hey, can you give me a company which has an excellent management team and a fantastic asset and it's located in a part of the world where I would be willing to take a vacation? There aren't that many places left. There's Nevada. There's Alaska. There's Australia. There are a few other places. You might want to go to Finland. But the reality is that...
Speaker 6: The rule of law is going to be sacrosanct.
Speaker 6: Institutional investors are going to gravitate towards those very few go-to stocks, which are in places where the rule of law is not a novelty.
Speaker 6: and where they don't eat you, literally or figuratively. By that standard.
Speaker 6: In addition to the fact that in terms of the size, the grade, the mind-wise, the exploration potential.
Speaker 6: the low operating pulse which come from higher grade. The safety of Alaska is determinative.
Speaker 6: If you believe in gold and you're a bull, you want to be in a safe place. If you want action in your portfolio, you want to have a development stage story. We believe we are the go-to stock in that space.
Speaker 6: We believe that we are on the cusp of being able to go to the next level. We've got a project which has got all the right attributes. We positioned it as a pure play on a district that is a gift that keeps on giving. Those exploration results were amongst the very best in the entire gold industry.
Speaker 6: I don't believe that there's any major mining company in the world that wouldn't want to own- and in fact, I'm pretty sure that in the gold space, everyone understands that it is the best in- reference- the project.
Speaker 6: We will be advancing this on the value chain, but there's something else you also have to remember.
Speaker 6: The real money is made in this space, and I've been doing it now for 30 years.
Speaker 6: By the quality of the asset that you own, we will one day have an introduction. There's no question about that. This is going to be built.
Speaker 6: But that doesn't mean that we can't also be the highest rated stock in the space. Every month that goes by, more and more countries are asking the companies that are invested there to give more money, to rework their sovereign agreements.
Speaker 6: The jurisdictional aspect, combined with the gold market, means that for us as investors, Donlwin is truly the holy grail. I have no doubt that we can see a tenfold increase in this stock, as every day, every week.
Speaker 6: the story gets better and better and better. Partly because we're moving the project forward and partly because, as I started by saying, we live in an entirely different world. And it's all about being able to have the greatest leverage to gold in a jurisdiction that will allow you to keep the fruits of the leverage. If you can't combine those two attributes...
Speaker 6: You're a dead man walking. If you can combine those attributes, you're going to make a killing in the market. For me, if I didn't think that was the case with Nova Gold and Donwin, I'd put it in play and we'd sell it to pivot to something better. But I genuinely don't believe that there is anything better out there in the space.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Jo. Thank you, PA. We have a few more questions that have come in via the webcast, and I will ask. The first one is directed to Greg.
Speaker 3: What are the goals of the next feasibility study and will there be another future feasibility study before breaking ground?
Speaker 4: I think the goals of the feasibility study are pretty intuitive. We're going to update our geologic understanding of the ore body, update the current trade-off studies we're doing, and use that knowledge.
Speaker 4: To define the most optimal project to take all of the town unity, the St. but yes, I think the question is whether there will be more? Is it a pre-study? Absolutely, the existing study is that which is facaled, and we are thinking about the project, primarily building the stages. It is crystallizing.
Speaker 4: And all of the learnings of the last couple of years and the drilling will be incorporated into the new study to deliver the post-transport project with the shareholders.
Speaker 4: years in the drilling will be incorporated into the new study to deliver the post-sensical project that the Streaming needs.
Speaker 3: Given our current cash burn rate, do you have sufficient funds to last for the next 24 months?
Speaker 4: The feasibility of work actually will be less dollars to the owners than the drilling. Drilling is a fairly costly activity. Our budget last year at Diamond was the highest in many years.
Speaker 4: to the burn rate we had on our drilling programs the last two years. Yes, clearly we've got, you know, at those burn rates, we have sufficient cash to see us through the completion of the new feasibility study onto a construction scene.
Speaker 4: we had on our drilling programs the last two years. Yes, clearly we've got, you know, at those burn rates, we have sufficient cash to see us through a completion of a new feasibility study onto a construction scene. So no need to raise equity until now.
Speaker 3: Thank you Greg. I got wrapped up the Q&A session. That's cute.
Speaker 4: Thank you everyone for taking the time to get it updated on notebook alone.
Speaker 4: Thank you for taking the time to get it updated on Novocore. Be safe.
Speaker 2: This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Greg for any closing remarks.
Speaker 4: Thank you everybody for taking the time to join our call this morning. I look forward to updating you in the coming months as our work progresses. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.
Speaker 1: F.
Speaker 1: The example off.
Speaker 1: I.
Speaker 1: We we PR F F.
Speaker 1: I.
Speaker 1: The.
Speaker 1: I.