Copper Canyon adds resource to NovaGold’s Galore Creek

Vancouver – The mineral resource at NovaGold Resources’ (NG-T) Galore Creek project, 150 km northeast of Stewart, British Columbia, has seen a significant boost with the inclusion of a new estimate from the nearby Copper Canyon project.

The new, independent calculation from Copper Canyon, completed by Hatch, has outlined an inferred resource of 116.1 million tonnes grading 0.41% copper, 0.64 grams gold per tonne and 8.3 grams silver per tonne, utilizing a 0.5% copper equivalent cutoff grade.

NovaGold’s 2004 Copper Canyon drill program, coupled with previous work, has delineated a mineralized zone of about 700 metres by 400 metres that is open in all directions and to depth. The resource estimate is based on 21 core holes totaling 6,850 metres.

Mineralization at Copper Canyon generally occurs as a 100-plus-metre thick zone of disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite in the porphyry system.

NovaGold is earning up to an 80% interest in Copper Canyon from Eagle Plains Resources (EPL-V) for $3 million in exploration, an issuance of 296,000 shares, payment of $1.25 million and completion of a feasibility study by 2011.

Further resource increase at Galore Creek is expected over the next few months with estimates anticipated from the Junction, West Fork and main Central-Southwest deposits. With continued growth of the Galore Creek mineral resource, the company is examining expansion of the project’s base-case operating level of 30,000-tonnes-per-day outlined in the 2004 Preliminary Economic Assessment.

Expansion of the 2005 Galore Creek exploration program will see eight core drill rigs onsite for a minimum of 50,000 metres of drilling enroute to preparation of a feasibility study in 2006.

The Galore Creek deposit hosts an indicated resource of 285.9 million tonnes grading 0.44 grams gold, 5.7 grams silver and 0.73% copper in the Central and Southwest zones. Additional inferred resources of 214.9 million tonnes of 0.52 grams gold, 6.7 grams silver and 0.47% copper exists at the project, incorporating the latest Copper Canyon figures.

Based on its reported 65.7 million shares outstanding, NovaGold has a market capitalization of $585-million at the current share-price trading level of about $8.90.