Good morning, and thank you for taking the time to get an update on the NOVAGOLD story. As I'm sure everybody knows, our presentation does contain forward-looking statements. You know, we are on a path to build what will be America's largest gold mine. This is where we sit today, and I just want to really highlight this because we're eminently getting ready to let the contract to update our bankable feasibility study. We anticipate that this will take about 18 months. That takes us to mid-2027, you know, followed by a three- to four-year build-out, so we will be producing one and a half million ounces a year, about year 2031. It will indeed be America's largest gold mine.
You know, recently, and this was a real milestone transaction for the company, earlier this year we announced a transaction which Paulson Associates and NOVAGOLD teamed up to buy Barrick out of the Donlin project for $1 billion. This transaction was successfully concluded, and through this transaction, NOVAGOLD was able to increase its ownership position from 50% to 60%. So we now have almost 24 million ounces of gold in reserves and resources, and we have a partner for the first time in many years who we are fully aligned with, and we share the view that now is the time to update the feasibility study and move this project toward a construction decision. You know, and this is, you know, Paulson is a very savvy gold investor, and one of their key turnaround stories was Detour Gold.
Paulson invested in this company, financed a large portion of the capital cost, was a major shareholder, and the company was beleaguered by a track record of continuously missing expectations. Paulson got involved, they restructured the board, restructured the company, and significantly turned it around. If you'd had invested with Paulson at this time, you'd have made about six times your money. They know what they're doing. They're a very savvy, well-seasoned gold investor. This is another example of Paulson's credibility in the gold space. You know, he's the significant shareholder in Perpetua Resources. You know, through his involvement, they were able to secure approximately $2 billion in federal loan guarantees. You know, their continued involvement has really transformed this company. Overprint that with a rising gold price environment, and had you co-invested with Paulson on this project, you would have done very, very well.
We're, you know, we're in an interesting spot now. We've come out of the doldrums because we had a partner that was not willing to move forward. That's now changed. This is just an example of what happens to companies, development stage companies like ours, when you have a clear runway and path toward production. You know, whether it's Artemis, G Mining, Skeena, you look at these companies and the market rewards you when you have a clear path to production. That's where NOVAGOLD is today. A little bit about the Donlin project and why NOVAGOLD is so focused on this asset. You know, Donlin is one of the few genuinely strategic assets in the gold industry. Its first five years, it'll produce 1.5 million ounces a year. First ten years, 1.4 million ounces. You know, the cash costs at Donlin are very low.
It's got great grade at two and a quarter grams. That's about twice the average grade in the gold industry today. Artemis Gold is a great example of a project with about half the grade of Donlin, and they've got, you know, making significant money. You know, Donlin has great exploration potential remaining. You know, in and around the two known ore bodies, we've got 46 million ounces. You know, this represents about 3 km of an 8 km trend. A lot of places to look for gold at Donlin, and I'll touch more on that a little bit later. You know, jurisdictional safety, that has always been one of the foundations of our investment thesis. We believe that assets that are in safe jurisdictions will ultimately command a premium.
You know, and we're seeing this now, and as gold prices are moving higher, you know, countries, particularly in the developing world, are renegotiating contracts. Outright nationalization, we've seen that in Mali. You know, the world is complicated now, and it's going to get continuously more complicated as gold prices move up and economies stagger. You know, permitting, we're done. You know, we finished the federal permitting process. We're wrapping up the state permits, but the federal permit is the key permit we need to begin work at the site. You know, we're committed to best practice, environmental safety, and governance. You know, we've got an experienced team, and we enjoy long-term, strong institutional support from our shareholders. This is an interesting slide. One of the things that the Donlin project appeals to our many shareholders is the leverage that we bring to the price of gold.
This project has acceptable rates of return at lower gold prices, and the way gold is moving, we have to continuously update this chart. You know, we stop at $3,500 an ounce, you know, another $500 an ounce on top of that, you know, this project will deliver robust returns and pretty significant cash flow when it's built. You know, then you look around the rest of the gold industry. You know, there are very few projects in the million ounce a year category. When you look at the other development stage projects, you know, none of them are anywhere close to Donlin, and the average of all of them is less than a half million ounces a year. We will deliver 30 years almost production at a little over a million ounces a year for 30 years.
You know, it makes Donlin a, you know, really a unique asset in the space. You know, grade is, you know, grade is key to a successful mining project. Average industry grades right now are bouncing around 1 g, and that's combined open pit underground. Donlin at 2.25 g is one of the highest grade undeveloped open pit deposits out there. You look at some of the mines that have come on in recent years, you know, Artemis Gold I mentioned earlier, their Blackwater project grades about 1 g. Detour's open pit, again, about 1 g. People can make money at these grades. Donlin at 2 g per ton is where the industry was a decade ago. This is one of my favorite slides. It's a look at the mineralized belt in and around the Donlin ore body.
You know, the Ackman Lewis is where we have, you know, over 40 million ounces. That's 3 km of an 8 km belt. We've got gold-bearing drill holes all up and down that 8 kilometers, and in and around, and we think there's, you know, room to substantially increase, if not double, the resources. You know, earlier this year we had a soil sampling program in and around this part of the project, and we'll be releasing the results as they come in. This represents only 5% of the total land holdings at Donlin. This is just, you know, highlights from the drill program that we did earlier this year. These are the top intercepts. You know, we've, you know, you can see in the charts, very, very significant intercepts.
This is, you know, when you contemplate some of the grades we encounter for a two-gram ore body, you know, it's really, you know, quite exceptional. We know there are multiple high-grade occurrences throughout the open pits at Donlin. You know, we're getting the last of the assays in, and within the next few weeks we'll be guiding the marketplace on, you know, what we've learned and seen from this year's drilling. But we're, you know, very, very encouraged by the results. You know, Donlin is a well-defined ore body, something on the order of 1,500 core holes in it. You know, Alaska, you know, it's a great place to do business. It's the second largest gold-producing state in the U.S. In some events that we follow pretty closely in recent months, the president has taken a very personal and direct interest in activities in Alaska.
You know, the White House and the administration recently took an equity stake in another Alaska company called Trilogy. You know, the Trump administration is a big proponent of bringing natural gas from the North Slope into the Cook Inlet, and this could be significant for Donlin because we envisioned importing gas into the Cook Inlet and putting it in a pipeline and delivering it to the site. You know, when this pipeline is built, and there was encouraging news today from Glenfarne, who is really championing this project, you know, it looks like it's going forward and would have very beneficial impacts on the cost of producing power for the Donlin mine site. You know, the other really important aspect of Donlin is we are on private land owned by two Alaska Native corporations. Calista owns the mineral rights, and The Kuskokwim Corporation owns the surface rights.
You know, both of these corporations have an owner's interest in seeing this mine go forward. You know, Donlin is, it's in a very impoverished part of the state. There's no economic opportunities on the horizon. You know, this mine will change the lives of thousands of people by providing, you know, consistent long-term employment opportunities. You know, both of these corporations have been a key ally for us as we've navigated the permitting process. You know, just touching on this real quickly, in the U.S., the key permit that you need to break ground is the Corps of Engineers' Wetlands Permit. We have that in hand. We got a joint record of decision from two federal agencies a few years ago. That was the first time that had ever happened. We have, you know, we now have authorization to begin work at the mine site.
You know, we've substantially completed the state permitting, but the federal permit is really the key one to have, and there's, you know, we're not at all concerned about the timing to get the other permits in hand. You know, this will occur well in advance of the feasibility study being completed. You know, permitting, as I said, permitting is a very complicated process in the U.S. It took us over six years and cost something on the order of $150 million. You know, I've been working in gold mining in the U.S. for about 40 years. And probably for the last 25 years, every mining project that gets permitted gets challenged in the courts. And that's, frankly, I kind of welcome that scrutiny. It gives everybody peace of mind. You know, we've prevailed every step of the way as our permits have been challenged.
Three of the permits in state court have worked their way all the way through the system and are now in the Alaska Supreme Court. They're fully briefed, and we anticipate rulings at any time. You know, our federal permit, which was also challenged, the judge threw out everything but one narrow issue. We're addressing that with a supplemental EIS. Permitting is not on the critical path, and the permits are well in hand, and we're, you know, moving forward in due course. I think with the, you know, the United States federal government is now very pro-mining, pro-resource development, and I think that, you know, we're in good shape permitting, but I think that really further reinforces that the United States wants to be self-sufficient on energy and critical resources.
You know, 2024 highlights, in the interest of time, I'll just state that we, you know, have very active environmental, social, and governance programs. Our board is well diversified, and that's something we take to heart. You know, we're an institutional share stock. You know, our market cap has risen dramatically since we made the purchase of Barrick. You know, for years, because of no forward progress on the project, you know, our share price languished. We were, frankly, dead money. Since we announced this deal less than six months ago, our share, our market cap has more than tripled, and we're now regaining the ground that we lost when we had a partner that didn't want to move forward. You know, third quarter highlights, you know, I've covered most of these in my earlier remarks.
As I said, coming up, we will be guiding on the firm that we select to do the feasibility study, as well as updating the market on our drill results and our plans for 2026. I think we've covered most of this. Yeah, we have an active period coming up. It's really a very exciting time for NOVAGOLD. We've got a permitted project in a rising gold price environment and a partner who is fully aligned with us in moving this project forward. Thank you. I think I have 30 seconds. Thank you. You have 30 seconds. If we have one very quick question, we have time for it. Otherwise, you'll be around. Thank you.