Rock Creek is NovaGold’s first producing gold mine. Upon achieving full commercial production, the mine will produce about 100,000 oz/y of gold at life-of-mine cash costs estimated at $500/oz.

The Rock Creek mine is a year-round, truck-and-shovel, open-pit operation. The processing facility is designed to process 7,000 mt/d, using a simple gravity, flotation and CIL recovery process. The plant started operation with nearly 450,000 mt of ore in its stockpile, representing two months of plant throughput at design capacity.

Rock Creek is the first modern, open-pit hardrock mine on the Seward peninsula in far-western Alaska. The project is located 7 miles from the town of Nome on 14,000 acres of patented private land owned 100% by NovaGold and 20,000 acres of land owned by the Bering Straits and Sitnasuak Native Corporations. NovaGold has a mining lease with Bering Straits and a Surface Use Agreement with Sitnasuak. The project is accessed by state-maintained roads and benefits from the presence of the nearby town-site infrastructure and power.

NovaGold’s Nome operations, including the Rock Creek mine, have 510,000 oz of proven and probable gold reserves, 1.81 million oz of measured and indicated resources, and 330,000 oz of inferred resources. NovaGold believes the properties have the potential both to expand production and extend mine life beyond 10 years.

NovaGold also reports further encouraging drill results from the Donlin Creek gold project in southwestern Alaska, owned 50% by NovaGold and 50% by Barrick Gold. In June 2008, NovaGold reported a pit-constrained resource estimate for the Donlin Creek project of 31.7 million measured and indicated ounces at grades of 2.5 g/mt, plus an additional 4.2 million inferred oz. More recent drilling has identified an area of higher-grade mineralization (the East Acma target) that continues at least an additional 500 m to the east of the current pit-constrained resource, highlighting the potential for a further increase in the Donlin Creek resource base.

The operating company at Donlin, Donlin Creek LLC, has selected a preferred project design and expects to complete a feasibility study of the project during the first quarter of 2009. The project is expected to have a throughput design of about 50,000 mt/d, using on-site diesel and wind cogeneration for power. At this capacity, Donlin Creek would operate for more than 20 years and potentially produce 1 million to 1.5 million oz/y of gold. Permitting would start in early 2009, with a construction start targeted for 2012.