Northgate Minerals Announces Newly Elected Members to its Board of Directors

     VANCOUVER, May 11 /CNW/ - Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, NYSE
Amex: NXG) is pleased to announce that Mr. Mark J. Daniel, Mr. Paul J. Dowd
and Mr. Richard J. Hall have been newly elected to its board of directors
pursuant to the annual general meeting of shareholders on May 8, 2009. Messrs.
Dowd and Hall were previously appointed to the board in December 2008. The
election of Mr. Mark Daniel follows the retirement of Mr. C. William (Bill)
Daniel, who served on the board since 2003.
     Serving on the board in addition to the three newly-elected members are
Messrs. Terrence A. Lyons, Chairman of the board, Kenneth G. Stowe, President
and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Patrick D. Downey, Douglas P.
Hayhurst and Conrad A. Pinette.
     Ken Stowe, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We have
assembled a board that has a wealth of expertise in our industry and is
committed to the growth of our company. I am looking forward to working with
our newly elected and returning members of our board team to build upon our
many recent successes, and to deliver growth and a solid rate of return to
Northgate's shareholders. On behalf of our management team and the board of
directors, I wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Bill Daniel for his
professional contributions and dedicated service to our board over the past
six years."
     Mr. Mark Daniel has been appointed Chairman of Northgate's Corporate
Governance and Compensation Committee and also as a member of the Health,
Safety and Environment Committee. Over his career, Mr. Daniel worked for the
Bank of Canada and a number of other Canadian government organizations prior
to joining the Conference Board of Canada in 1979. During his 15-year career
with the Conference Board, he benchmarked leadership and management practices
in some of the most successful companies in North America, Europe and Japan.
Mr. Daniel joined Vale Inco (formerly CVRD Inco) in 1996, retiring as Vice
President, Human Resources in 2007. Since that time, he has consulted to
organizations on performance improvement, executive development, succession
planning and organization design. Mr. Daniel holds a PhD in economics from the
University of Minnesota.

     Forward-Looking Statements:

     This Northgate press release contains "forward-looking information", as
such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation, concerning
Northgate's future financial or operating performance and other statements
that express management's expectations or estimates of future developments,
circumstances or results. Generally, forward-looking information can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects",
"believes", "anticipates", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts",
"intends", "plans" and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements
that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "could", "would" or
"might" "be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is
based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered
reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which Northgate
operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic and
competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Northgate cautions that
forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause Northgate's actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by
such information, including, but not limited to gold and copper price
volatility; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and interest rates; the
impact of any hedging activities; discrepancies between actual and estimated
production, between actual and estimated reserves and resources or between
actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; costs of production; capital
expenditure requirements; the costs and timing of construction and development
of new deposits; and the success of exploration and permitting activities. In
addition, the factors described or referred to in the section entitled "Risk
Factors" in Northgate's Annual Information Form for the year ended December
31, 2008 or under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in Northgate's 2008
Annual Report, both of which are available on the SEDAR website at
www.sedar.com, should be reviewed in conjunction with the information found in
this press release. Although Northgate has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ
materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there can be
other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as
anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such
information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or
estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
information. The forward-looking information in this press release is made as
of the date of this press release, and Northgate disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by
applicable law.

For further information: Ms. Keren R. Yun, Director, Investor Relations, Tel:
(416) 363-1701 ext. 233, Email: ngx@northgateminerals.com, Website:
www.northgateminerals.com