Novagold Resources Inc.

Welcome to the NOVA Gold 2021 year-end financial results and project update conference call and webcast. 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 via webcast only. Webcast viewers may submit questions through the text box in the lower right corner of the webcast frame. 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 Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Claudia. Good morning, everyone. We are pleased that you have joined us for NOVA Gold's 2021 year-end financial results and also for an update on the Donlon Gold project. On today's call, we have Dr. Thomas Kaplan, Novogold's chairman, Greg Lang, Novogold's president and CEO, and David Ottawell, Novogold's vice president and CFO. At the end of the webcast, we will take questions via the platform. And additionally, we will respond to questions via email. I would like to remind our webcast and call participants that as stated on slide four, 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 included in this presentation. I now have the pleasure of turning the presentation over to our President and CEO, Greg Wang. Greg?

Thank you, Melanie. As we all know, the ever-shifting challenge that COVID presents to us all has required extensive communication and the application of health and safety protocols, both at Nova Gold and at the Donovan Gold Project site and Anchorage office. Some of these protocols are outlined on slide six. As a result, Of our actions, COVID cases at the site were minimal in 2021, and there were no lost time accidents. During our 2021 drill season, out of approximately 170,000 man-hours worked, we recorded only four cases of COVID at the Donilon Project site. The effective individuals all fully recovered and ultimately returned to work. Credit must go to our dedicated partners, in particular, Chalista and TKC, as well as other tribal groups in the YK region who share the objective of protecting health and safety. Donland Gold continues to enforce strict COVID protocols and make contingency plans in an effort to keep our employees, their families, and members of the community safe and healthy. Novigold has approached the disclosure of our environment, social and governance performance pragmatically as a development stage company, disclosing benchmarks that we believe are the most relevant measurements of our performance. A selection of our progress is shown on slide seven. NOVAGOLD recognizes the importance of climate change and the impacts on decisions in the YK region, the investment, project design, compliance, and corporate governance. 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. While many initiatives are rightly focused on the Don and Gold Project and the greater YK region and the state of Alaska, NOVA Gold actively supports organizations in local communities and in Alaska. Slide 8 includes some of the year-end community engagement highlights. The company was recognized for its outstanding contribution to the Lotus Light COVID-19 Community Caring Campaign, which helped distribute over a million pounds of hand sanitizer and other personal protective equipment to thousands of organizations in BC, Ontario and overseas. This month, Nova Gold established the Mining and Geological Engineering Scholarship at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to help support students seeking bachelor's degrees in mining or geological engineering with a focus on underrepresented students as a commitment to foster diversity in the industry. The 2021 drill program was completed in late September with 79 holes totaling over 24,000 meters. We reported assay results in September and December from 36 completed holes and 22 partial holes, which represent about 65% or 16,000 meters of drilling. To date, the program has consistently produced multiple significant gold intercepts that continue to support the global resource estimate, recent modeling concepts, and strategic mine planning work. A few of the best intercepts from the 2021 program are highlighted on slide nine. such as drill hole 1994 with 33 meters grading 6 grams starting at surface, which includes a subinterval of 6 meters grading 15 grams per ton, or drill hole 1976 with 57 meters of almost 7 grams per ton, including 4 meters at 18 grams, We are still awaiting results for about a third of the assays from the program from which the labs have been delayed across the board in North America. The remaining assays will be released in the coming months. On slide 10, you can see a longitudinal section of the ACMA and Lewis deposits at Donnellan. The 2021 drill program is yielding multiple significant new high-grade intercepts. In 2022, we will undertake approximately 34,000 meters of technical and exploration drilling, in part looking at the areas circled on the slide. In 2022, The overall budget for Donnan Gold, which is shared equally with Barrick, is $60 million. Nova Gold's portion is 50%. This is the largest project budget the partners have committed to in more than a decade. And it is designed to first undertake approximately 34,000 meters of drilling in pit and below pit, Also drilling several grids to test mineralization continuity and structural controls. We will support field work and permitting for the Alaska Dam Safety Certifications. Also supporting environmental activities and a robust community and external affairs budget. We will update the geologic model and interpretation work for an updated resource model and engineering activities for use in an updated project feasibility study. On slide 12, you can see quotes from Dr. Bristow and myself from our last Donlon Gold joint release on the drill program that was issued on December 1st. Again, we have reported some impressive intercepts for an open pit projects, And Mark's comments about the unique opportunity underline the importance of the project for the region and the state of Alaska. Slide 13 provides a list of the permits obtained and outstanding for the Donlon Gold Project. With federal permits well in hand, the Donlon Gold Project is in the late stage of development with a continued focus on permitting activities. In late 2021, the Donlon Gold project was successful in securing a third extension of the air quality permit issued by the state of Alaska. In addition, three permits held by Donlon Gold came under appeal, specifically the state's Clean Water Act, 12 water applications, and the state right-of-way permit agreement for the natural gas pipeline. All of our permits remain in effect during this anticipated appeal process.