Project Description
Donlin Creek LLC, a Barrick / NovaGold company, proposes to work with the residents of the Yukon Kuskokwim to develop a gold mine 13 miles north of the Middle Kuskokwim River village of Crooked Creek.
Since 1909, when gold was first discovered in Donlin Creek, placer mining, sluice mining, and exploration have been carried out in the area. Extensive exploration drilling beginning in 1995 has defined a gold resource that may be able to support a mining project.
The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC), a consortium of 10 upriver villages closest to Donlin, owns most of the surface land in the proposed mine area. The subsurface land is owned by Calista Corporation, the regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) to encompass the 56 villages in the Yukon Kuskokwim (YK) region. Donlin Creek management has been actively working with both Calista Corporation and TKC on the project for many years now.