NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE:NG) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 26, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Melanie Hennessey - VP, Corporate Communications

Greg Lang - President and CEO

David Ottewell - VP and CFO

Thomas Kaplan - Chairman

Conference Call Participants

Lucas Pipes - B. Riley Securities

Operator

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NOVAGOLD 2022 Year End Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the conference over to Melanie Hennessey, Vice President, Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

Melanie Hennessey

Thank you, Ariel. Good morning, everyone. We are pleased that you have joined us for the 2022 year-end financial results and also for an update on the Donlin Gold project.

On today's call, we have Dr. Thomas Kaplan, NOVAGOLD's Chairman; Greg Lang, NOVAGOLD's President and CEO; and David Ottewell, NOVAGOLD's Vice President and CFO. At the end of the webcast, we will take questions by phone. Additionally, we will respond to questions received by e-mail.

I would like to remind our webcast and call participants that, as stated on Slide 3, any statements made today may contain forward-looking information such as projections and goals, which are likely to involve risks detailed in our various EDGAR and SEDAR filings and forward-looking disclaimers included in this presentation.

I now have the pleasure of turning the presentation over to our President and CEO, Greg Lang. Greg?

Greg Lang

Thank you, Melanie, and good morning to everyone joining today's conference call and webcast.

On Slide 4, we have included a drill hole map for the '22 program that shows the ACMA and Lewis areas, the three areas where we did tight-spaced grid drilling, and the top five intervals from the latest results we jointly released with Barrick a week ago.

The 2022 program was completed under budget and ahead of schedule in September, with 141 holes drilled for a total of over 42,000 meters, making it the largest drill program at Donlin in over 15 years. During the field season, 150 employees worked at the Donlin site, representing 24 of the villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region.

Keeping our workforce healthy and safe has always been a top priority for NOVAGOLD and Donlin Gold. The safety protocols and meetings at the project site played a central role in ensuring the continued success of Donlin and its drill program. We are immensely proud that Donlin Gold achieved zero lost time incidents again in 2022. This is a remarkable achievement that we do not take for granted, as we continue to work and improve practices to the insurance of the health and safety of our people.