Canada's Barrick Gold said on Tuesday it will exit the Donlin gold Project in Alaska by selling its 50% stake to billionaire John Paulson and NovaGold Resources for up to $1.1 billion. The Donlin Gold project is a proposed mine which holds roughly 39 million ounces of gold.

Billionaire John Paulson has been building his miners portfolio for many years and is well-positioned to benefit from the soaring price of gold.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) said Tuesday it agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Donlin Gold project in Alaska to affiliates of Paulson Advisers and NovaGold Resources (NG) for $1B in cash; Barrick +1.8%,