Vancouver, British Columbia – Following the completion of the Prefeasibility Study (“PFS”) for its 50%-owned Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project in northern British Columbia, and recently completed Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) of its 100%-owned Ambler high-grade copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver project in northwest Alaska, NovaGold Resources Inc. (“NovaGold” or the “Company”) (NYSE-AMEX: NG, TSX:NG) today highlighted the value and development potential of its copper assets and announced definitive steps to bring their valuation more in line with current metals prices. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.
The recently completed Galore Creek PFS estimated pre- and after-tax Net Present Values (“NPVs”) of NovaGold’s share of the Project using current commodity prices at approximately $2.4 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively. These figures do not include substantial inferred mineral resources, a portion of which the partners intend to upgrade and incorporate into future studies. There is also significant exploration potential on the property.
With the improved scale of the project and substantially increased commodity prices over the last several years, NovaGold believes the potential value of Galore Creek has markedly increased. If in production as contemplated in the PFS, the Galore Creek mine is projected to be the fourth largest copper mine in North America and the largest in Canada, based on current production figures from industry sources.