Novagold Resources Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NOVA Gold third quarter 2021 financial results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Melanie Hennessy, Vice President, Corporate Communication. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Claudia. Good morning, everyone. We are pleased that you have joined us for Nova Gold's 2021 third quarter financial results and for an update on the Donlon Gold project. On today's call, we have Dr. Thomas Caplan, Novogold's chairman, Greg Lang, Novogold's president and CEO, and David Ottawa, Novogold's vice president and CFO. At the end of the webcast, we will take questions both by phone and by text. Additionally, we will respond to questions received by email. Before we begin the presentation, Novogold would like to recognize that today is the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. As a long-term partner with Indigenous communities in North America, we acknowledge the history of the land we operate on and reiterate our support of partnerships among all peoples to build a better, stronger, and more inclusive society where all people achieve their full potential and share in prosperity. Thank you and kweana. I would like to remind our webcast and call participants that as stated on slide three, Any statements made today may contain forward-looking information such as projections and goals, which are likely to involve risk detail in our various EDGAR and CEDAR filings and forward-looking disclaimers that are included in this presentation. I now have the pleasure of turning the presentation over to our president and CEO, Greg Lang. Greg.

Thank you, Melanie. And good morning, everyone. For those of you new to the Nova Gold story, the Donlon Gold Project is located in the western part of the great state of Alaska, as shown on slide four, and is a 50-50 partnership with Barrick Gold. Mining is an important part of the Alaska economy. A special note this quarter is the receipt of $75 million as a second payment from Newmont from the sale of our Galore Creek project in 2018. This has boosted our cash position to $173 million at the end of this quarter. In terms of scale, quality, and exploration potential and jurisdictional stability, Donland Gold's attributes far exceed any other global development stage project. When combined with our long-standing Native Corporation partnerships, the exponential leverage to rising gold prices, an experienced management team and board, long-term supportive shareholders, and key state and federal permits in hand, NOVA Gold is not just rare, it is unrivaled. In September, I had the pleasure of visiting Anchorage and the Donlon Gold site with members of the barracks senior leadership team, including CEO Dr. Mark Bristow. We had an intensive technical review session and a thorough site visit, as well as meetings with key stakeholders. A few of the photos from the site visit with Mark and his team can be seen on slide five. As a result of the visit was the approval of additional funding by the Donlin Gold Board to lay the foundation for a new feasibility study. With Donlin steadily moving up the value chain and becoming a late stage project, Barrick, Nova Gold, Donlin Gold, Jalista and TKC have closely collaborated in all government affairs activities. Donlon Gold worked alongside Chalista and TKC during the federal permitting process, culminating in the granting of the federal record of decision in 2018. The partners continue to work to ensure that the project receives the attention it deserves in Alaska and with senior Biden administration officials in Washington, D.C. One key distinction about the Donlon Gold project that it is on private land where the minerals are owned by Alaska Native corporations who have the mandate to provide economic and social benefits for their stakeholders. During our recent trip to Alaska, we met with Senator Murkowski, who is pictured on the top right in slide six. We have been fortunate to have zero COVID cases at the Donlin Camp during this latest field season. When cases started to rise in Alaska again this summer, we enhanced our community and workforce protection plan. With an outline of some details on slide seven, we wanted to ensure safe operations could continue and that our workforce remained healthy. Careful collaboration with Chalista and TKC as well as other tribal groups in the YK region has been key to this success. Restrictions are in place for the Donlon Gold Anchorage office following two positive cases and all Donlon Gold employees who may have been exposed are tested and quarantining in accordance with our COVID mitigation protocols. Slide eight, you can see a quote from Mark Bristow from our September 2nd joint release with the initial assays from our 2021 drill program. Again, we have reported some pretty impressive numbers for an open pit project. Great initial assay results from the 2021 drill program. were achieved and some of the best of these intercepts are highlighted on slide nine. We reported assays from 29 holes for a total of approximately 7,500 meters of drilling. The drilling was completed in late September with 79 holes totaling a little over 24,000 meters. To date, the program revealed significant high-grade drill hole intercepts, particularly in the ACMA area and the divide zone, which lies between the ACMA and Lewis deposits. Examples of high-grade intervals include hole 1970 with 92 meters at 8 grams and hole 1963 with 40 meters at 10 grams. Very impressive results. Additional assays will be released to the market in the coming months. On slide 10, you can see a longitudinal section of the two deposits. The 21 program is yielding great results in both the ACMA and Lewis area, and we're particularly encouraged by the results in the sparsely drilled divide area between the two deposits. Over the past decade, the owners of the Donlon Gold project have brought the project up the value chain and now have the federal and most of the key state permits in hand. Currently, three permits are under appeal. First one, the Clean Water Act or 401 certification was appealed in Alaska Supreme Court. Second, in June, the project received our water rights permits and they were appealed by an NGO. We anticipate a decision on this appeal next year. And third, the commissioner upheld the state right away agreements for the natural gas pipeline. And this was an NGO requested an administrative review of this permit. Unfortunately, litigation is part of the permitting process. Many NGOs oppose resource development of any kind, and this has been a regular course of business in the US. It's something we anticipated and built into our planning since the start of permitting. We are not surprised by these appeals and are building a comprehensive science-based record. And we believe the project is in a strong position to defend any legal actions. Don and Gold is committed to support the needs of its community partners. Slide 12 includes some of the third quarter community engagement highlights. In August, Don and gold was a major sponsor of the in it for the long haul with the association of village Council presidents and other regional partners on the fourth and largest ever backhaul project to remove hazardous. and electronic waste from 26 villages in the yk region by removing and properly disposing of these ways it keeps them out of the village landfill and protects the natural resources in the area. With an agreement signed with the Upper Castlegate during the third quarter, Donland Gold now has signed eight shared value statements with villages in the region that formalize current engagement with key local communities. These agreements expand on the long-term relationships already established with these communities and address specific local needs such as water, sewer, landfill projects, salmon studies, and mental health programs. As you can see on slide 13, we are often asked about the structure of our partnership. It is a true 50-50 project overseen by two appointed directors from each company and the chair alternates annually between the companies. Last year, Catherine Raw, Chief Operating Officer for Barrick North America, was chairman. This year, I hold that position. Another question we are often asked is where does Donlon fit in the Barrick portfolio? And Donlon is their only greenfield project located in North America. Donlon Gold is on private land. that was specifically selected for its mineral development potential under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, as shown on slide 14. This is a key distinguishing factor from other mining assets in Alaska and the U.S. This is the 50th anniversary of the Landmark Act supporting indigenous populations in Alaska. As landowners, Chalista and TKC are committed to developing a mining operation consistent with their elders' vision of responsible development that creates jobs and economic benefits while safeguarding the environment and their culture. We are thankful for their long-term support and commitment to the project. They play a key role in its continued success. Novigold has approached the disclosure of our environment, social and governance performance pragmatically as a development stage company, disclosing benchmarks that we believe are most relevant measurements of our performance. We produced our first inaugural sustainability summary report early this year and have regular interactions to provide updated information to various groups, as well as investors, and other stakeholders. A selection of the performance measurements we used in 2020 can be found on slide 15. NOVA Gold is committed to responsible mining, stewardship of the environment, and adding value to the communities in which we operate. We believe that mines can be developed in collaboration with people who have the local knowledge to help minimize environmental impacts while benefiting from economic activity. As one of the largest gold development projects in its category, we recognize that Donlan's scale is remarkable. With approximately 39 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated categories and a mine life measured in decades, When compared to the 14 large scale gold projects in the Americas as shown on slide 16, Donlin is five times bigger than the average. The scale of Donlin combined with its grade at two and a quarter grams as shown on slide 17 is twice the global average for open pit deposits. As currently envisioned, the Donland Gold project would average over 1 million ounces a year throughout the life of the mine, as shown on slide 18. Donland Gold's annual production profile far exceeds the average of North and South American peers. As global gold production continues to decline for most of the majors, it is clear the industry needs projects with scale, grade, and longevity. all of which Donlan offers and in a favorable jurisdiction. Only three of these operations produced more than a million ounces in 2020, as shown on slide 19. You can see the Donlan Gold Project in Alaska. The top five largest development stage gold projects are in dark blue. Three of these are in North America. And if you combined all three, they are still smaller than the Donland Gold project. Whether in production or in development, Donland Gold would rank among the top operations globally if it was producing today. Looking globally, there's only one development project that has both scale and a desirable mining location. And that's the Donland Gold project. While we are focused on the 2021 drill program, permitting and modeling work, we have not lost sight of one of the project's most important attributes, Donland Gold's truly exceptional exploration potential. The project's endowment is contained with only within three kilometers of an eight kilometer mineralized belt, as shown by the Akma and Lewis pits in gold on slide 20. This mineralized belt represents only 5% of our total land package. As shown on slide 21, there are several catalysts in the coming months with the approval of Donlan's budget increase. We will advance studies and increase staffing. Also this fall, investors can expect to see additional assay results from the 21 drill program to add to the results that we have distributed earlier this month. The balance of the year will follow in 2022 along with the work program for next year, this is a solid foundation on which to advance this rare and unique project we feel the time invested up front to develop responsibly and sustainably is critical to the project success. With that. I will now turn the call over to David Otwell, our CFO, to review the third quarter financial results. Dave?