Barrick Gold and Novagold Resources announced that the Donlin Gold draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has been published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is now available at www.donlingoldeis.com. This is a significant permitting milestone for the Donlin Gold project located in Alaska.
The corps is now expected to issue a schedule for public meetings on the draft EIS to be held in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region and Anchorage in the coming weeks. Written comments on the draft EIS will be accepted until the close of the five-month comment period at the end of April 2016. The corps will then review and respond to all comments, which the corps’ schedule anticipates will be published in 2017.
“Permitting a major project such as Donlin Gold requires a tremendous level of collaboration and team spirit on the part of all parties involved,” said Greg Lang, Novagold president and CEO. “The credit for reaching this important milestone is shared by many men and women committed to the successful and responsible development of Donlin Gold.”
In addition to further advancing the draft EIS, Donlin Gold has advanced a number of other key permits. The Public Notice for the Clean Water Act Section 404 (Wetlands) permit application was issued by the corps. The Air Quality and Integrated Waste Management permit applications were submitted to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC). Donlin Gold also submitted lease applications to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) and continued to work with the ADNR Dam Safety Program on its dam application package.
