NovaGold Announces Major Changes to Its Organization
Greg Lang to be Appointed President and Chief
Executive Officer and Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse to Head
Newly Formed NovaCopper
November 16, 2011 - Vancouver, British Columbia - NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NovaGold��� or the "Company���) (NYSE-AMEX, TSX: NG) is pleased to announce major changes to its
leadership and corporate structure.
Senior Management Changes
Gregory A. Lang
has accepted the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of NovaGold effective January 2012. Mr. Lang comes to NovaGold from Barrick Gold
Corporation ("Barrick Gold���) where most recently he was President of Barrick
Gold of North America, Barrick Gold's wholly-owned
subsidiary. In that capacity, Mr. Lang
had executive responsibility for Barrick Gold's nine
operations in the United States,
Canada and the Dominican
Republic, including the Donlin
Gold project, equally owned by wholly-owned subsidiaries of NovaGold
and Barrick Gold.
Mr. Lang
has over 30 years of diverse experience in mine operations, project development
and evaluations. He has held progressively responsible operating and project
development positions over his 10-year tenure with Barrick
Gold and, prior to that, with Homestake Mining
Company and International Corona Corporation, both of which are now part of Barrick Gold. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mining
Engineering from University of Missouri-Rolla and is a Graduate of the Stanford
University Executive Program.
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, NovaGold's
current President and Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am delighted to
see Greg join the NovaGold team. His extensive
background in developing mines for the largest gold producer in the world,
combined with his leadership ability, makes him the right person at the right
time to take the helm at NovaGold as it enters its
next phase of development to become a significant North American gold producer.���
Spin-out of Ambler to Shareholders of NovaGold
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, NovaGold's
Founder, will step down from his current position as President and Chief
Executive Officer of the Company and will assume the position of President and
Chief Executive Officer of NovaCopper Inc. ("NovaCopper���), a newly
formed subsidiary. It is proposed that the shares of NovaCopper
will be distributed to shareholders of NovaGold as a
return of capital by way of a Plan of Arrangement (the "Plan���) under the Companies
Act ( Nova
Scotia). The Plan will be voted on at a Special Meeting of
Shareholders of NovaGold ("Special Meeting���), which NovaGold anticipates holding in January 2012, and will be
subject to numerous conditions including shareholder and court approval,
approval by, and listing of the NovaCopper shares on
TSX and NYSE-AMEX and completion of all required regulatory filings. It is
proposed that the record date for shareholders of NovaGold
entitled to receive shares of NovaCopper under the
Plan will be the effective date of the Plan, which is expected to be in
February or March, 2012. Additional details of the spin-out and the time and
place for the Special Meeting will be announced as soon as all the commercial,
legal and procedural formalities are finalized. Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyse
will continue to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of NovaGold. He will also serve as Senior Advisor to the
President for a period of one year. NovaCopper owns
the Ambler project and will have a 100% interest in any mining project in the
recently consolidated 180,000-hectare property located in the Ambler district
of northwestern Alaska, subject to the rights of NANA Corporation under the
Exploration Agreement entered into between NANA and NovaCopper
dated October 19, 2011 (please refer to Press Release dated October 20, 2011).
The Ambler district hosts one of the richest known volcanogenic massive sulfide
("VMS���)
copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver deposits in the world.
Maximization of Value of 50%-owned Galore Creek
Project
In addition to the spin-out of NovaCopper,
the Board of NovaGold has re-iterated its objective
to unlock the value of NovaGold's copper assets in
order to focus on the Company's flagship Donlin Gold
project (please refer to the Press Release dated July 28, 2011). To that end,
the Board of NovaGold has decided to explore
opportunities to sell all or part of NovaGold's 50%
share of the Galore Creek project ("Galore Creek���) located in northwestern British
Columbia. Galore Creek is one of the largest known undeveloped
copper projects in the world and is located in a first-tier mining
jurisdiction. If put into production as contemplated in the recently completed
Prefeasibility Study, the Galore Creek mine would be the fourth largest copper
mine in North America and the largest in Canada (based on current production
figures from industry sources).
Thomas S. Kaplan Becomes Chairman of the Board and Gil
Leathley Joins the Board
NovaGold further announced that Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan has joined the Board of
Directors of the Company and has been appointed Chairman of the Board and Mr.
Gil Leathley has joined its Board of
Directors. Both appointments are effective immediately.
Dr. Kaplan is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
The Electrum Group LLC ("Electrum���), a privately held global natural resources investor. An affiliate of
Electrum currently holds approximately 21.65% of NovaGold's
outstanding shares. Dr. Kaplan is widely regarded as one of the industry's
most-successful entrepreneurs and is among the precious metals sector's
most-prominent advocates. He has an extensive track record of both creating and
unlocking substantial shareholder value in public as well as private companies,
most recently at Leor Exploration & Production LLC ("Leor���), a natural gas
exploration and development company which, under his chairmanship, evolved from
a start-up in 2003 to become the fastest-growing privately held hydrocarbon
exploration and development company in the United States. In 2007, Leor's
natural gas assets were sold to EnCana Oil & Gas USA Inc., a subsidiary of Encana Corporation, for US$2.55 billion. Dr. Kaplan holds
Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degrees in History from Oxford
University.
Mr. Leathley is Senior Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer of NovaGold. He has been with the
Company since January 2010 when he joined NovaGold as
Senior Advisor to the President. With more than 50 years of mining experience, Mr.
Leathley is one of the industry's most highly regarded mine operators and builders.
He has worked globally in a variety of mining operations and retired in 2000 as
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Homestake
Mining Company. He serves on several Boards of mining and mineral exploration
companies.
"These important changes are the culmination of
the earlier announced strategy of the Board of Directors to unlock the value of
NovaGold's substantial assets for the benefit of all shareholders,��� said Gerry
McConnell, the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors and who
will continue to serve as a Director of the Company. " Greg
Lang brings unparalleled credentials to the leadership of NovaGold. His track record of successfully permitting,
building and operating major mines around the world and, in particular, his
intimate knowledge of NovaGold's 50%-owned Donlin Gold property, will provide NovaGold
with excellent stewardship in the successful development of what we believe
will become one of the most-significant and valuable gold mines in the world.���
"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would
like to thank Rick for his immense contribution in discovering and developing NovaGold's significant portfolio of world-class assets,��� continued Mr.
McConnell. "He has been recognized by his peers when in 2009 the Donlin team received the prestigious Thayer Lindsley Award for international mineral discovery. His
steadfast pursuit of discovery has secured NovaGold
shareholders large, high-quality precious and base metals deposits located in
first-tier mining jurisdictions. Rick's skillsets are best suited for NovaCopper where shareholders can look forward to more
discoveries and value creation from his new leadership role. We are also
delighted to welcome Tom Kaplan and Gil Leathley to the Board of Directors of NovaGold. They are consummate leaders in their respective
fields and NovaGold shareholders are extremely
fortunate to have the benefit of their knowledge, experience and professionalism.���
About NovaGold
NovaGold is a precious metals company engaged in the exploration and development
of mineral properties in Alaska, U.S.A.
and British Columbia, Canada.
The Company is focused on advancing its flagship property, Donlin
Gold, with the objective of becoming a low-cost million-ounce-a-year gold
producer, and offers superior leverage to gold with one of the largest
reserve/resource bases of any junior or mid-tier gold company. The Company is
also committed to maximizing the value of its non-core assets, including its
interest in the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project. NovaGold
has a strong track record of expanding deposits through exploration success and
forging collaborative partnerships, both with local communities and with major
mining companies. The Donlin Gold project in Alaska,
one of the world's largest known undeveloped gold deposits, is held by a
limited liability company owned equally by wholly-owned subsidiaries of NovaGold and Barrick Gold
Corporation. The Galore Creek project in British
Columbia, a large copper-gold-silver deposit, is held by a
partnership owned equally by wholly-owned subsidiaries of NovaGold
and Teck Resources Limited. NovaGold,
through its wholly-owned subsidiary, NovaCopper Inc.,
also owns a 100% interest in the high-grade Ambler copper-zinc-gold-silver
deposit in northern Alaska
and has other earlier-stage exploration properties. NovaGold
trades on the TSX and NYSE-AMEX under the symbol NG. More information is
available at www.novagold.com or by emailing info@novagold.net.
NovaGold Contact
Neil MacRae
Director, Investor Relations
neil.macrae@novagold.net
604-669-6227 or 1-866-669-6227