Barrick Gold Corp. is exiting an Alaskan mining project by selling its 50 per cent stake to billionaire John Paulson and Novagold Resources Inc. for US$1 billion.
Barrick and Novagold announced the agreement in separate statements on Tuesday, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News. Novagold will acquire 20 per cent of the interest in the Donlin Gold project and Paulson Advisers LLC will buy the rest, with both parties “contributing pro rata to the purchase price,” Barrick said.
Novagold shares rose more than 20 per cent in New York, its biggest intraday jump since March 2020, while Barrick’s stock fell as much as 1.6 per cent.
The deal gives Novagold greater control over a project it has sought to develop for decades, after the Vancouver-based company struck a joint venture with Barrick on Donlin in 2007. Paulson, the hedge fund manager behind Paulson & Co., is one of the largest investors in Novagold. The deal “marks the watershed moment in our company’s ambition to unlock conscientiously the full value of Donlin Gold,” Novagold chairman Thomas Kaplan said in its statement.
The sale also marks Barrick’s latest move to shed assets and dispense with smaller investments while gold prices hit repeated record highs. Newmont Corp., the world’s top bullion producer, generated US$4.3 billion on asset sales earlier this year, blowing past its initial projections as bullion prices climbed higher.
The latest transaction is expected to close around the middle of the year and allows Barrick to offload Donlin “at an attractive valuation, while allowing Novagold and Paulson to pursue the development of the project,” Barrick said. Novagold said it plans this year to update Donlin’s bankable feasibility study and complete an ongoing drill program.
Dealmaking is heating up in the gold industry while companies look to capitalize on rising bullion prices. Chinese mining firm CMOC Group agreed to buy Canada’s Lumina Gold Corp. in an all-cash deal announced Tuesday for about $581 million (US$420 million). Equinox Gold Corp. shareholders will vote Thursday on the Canadian company’s US$1.8 billion takeover bid for Calibre Mining Corp., announced in February.
Barrick, which is looking to produce more copper, started a process last year to sell its Tongon gold mine in Ivory Coast, though it has not yet found a buyer.
Jacob Lorinc and Liana Baker, Bloomberg News
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
