Novagold Resources Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NOVA Gold first quarter 2026 financial results 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. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star then zero. Webcast viewers may submit questions through the text box in the lower right corner of the webcast frame. I would now like to turn the conference over to Melanie Hennessey, Vice President, Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Gaylene. Good morning, everyone. We are pleased that you have joined us for Novogold's 2026 first quarter webcast and conference call. and for an update on the Donlon Gold project. On today's call, we have Novogold's Chairman, Dr. Thomas Kaplan, President and CEO, Greg Lang, and Novogold's Vice President and CFO, Peter Adamak. At the end of the webcast, we will take questions by phone. Additionally, we will respond to questions received via email in the webcast. I would like to remind you, as stated on slide three, Any statements made today may contain forward-looking information, such as projections and goals, which are likely to involve risks detailed in our various EDGAR and CDAR filings, and forward-looking disclaimers included in this presentation. With that, I will now turn the presentation over to NOVA Gold's President and CEO, Greg Lang. Greg?

Thank you, Melanie. On slide five, we highlight the key attributes that make the Donlin project unique in the gold industry. Donlin has a combination of scale, grade, long life, low operating costs, and significant upside potential in the exploration areas, and we're in a safe jurisdiction. With about 40 million ounces of reserves and resources, At two and a quarter grams, Donlan has got grade better than twice the industry average. Our known resource occupies only 5% of our total land holdings. And there is considerable potential to increase this strong reserve base. We're also fortunate to have long-term committed shareholders who understand the value

in an asset like Donlin.

Moving on to slide six, this chart illustrates the value of Donlin at a variety of gold prices. With today's gold price approaching the upper end of this chart, the project has a net present value of almost $24 billion at a 5% discount rate. This underscores the leverage and significant economic potential of Donlon in the current gold price environment. As highlighted on slide seven, Donlon will be a big mine. It will average over a million ounces a year during its 30-year mine life and about 1.3 million ounces the first 10 years. This asset Production makes it really unique and stands out in the gold space. You know, grade is one of the most important attributes of a mining project. At two and a quarter grams, Donland's twice the industry average. It's this high grade that contributes to Donland's very low operating costs at less than $1,000 an ounce. This slide really highlights the significant exploration potential at Donlin. The unknown resources reside in the ACMA and Lewis areas as shown on the slide number nine. These areas represent only three kilometers of an eight kilometer gold bearing system. When the time is right, we will continue to explore both along strike and at depth. There's tremendous potential right in our own backyard.

Turning to slide 10.

This slide is a summary of the status of our permitting. We've completed the federal permitting process and we're wrapping up the state permitting. You know, we've worked well with the federal and state agencies over the years in our permits are in good standing. The only remaining permit in Alaska is for the dam safety certificates, and the design packages have been submitted to the state, and we anticipate approval well in advance of needing this permit. Slide 11 highlights a recent statement from Governor Mike Dunleavy up in Alaska. Governor Dunleavy, as well as the other elected officials in Alaska have long been staunch advocates for the Donlan project and the importance of what it can mean to the state of Alaska and the YK region. On slide 12, we highlight our longstanding engagement with our native Alaskan partners. Chalista owns the mineral rights, and TKC owns the surface rights. We've got life of mine agreements in place with both of these entities, and it's really important to remember that this is private land that was designated for mining activities. Both Chalista and TKC have an owner's interest in seeing this project go forward. Moving on to slide 13, we are starting to fill out the Donlon Gold feasibility team. Frank Garcase is our project manager. He's been around the industry for almost 40 years. He's very well-seasoned with big projects in remote locations. We've hired Fluor, one of the industry's leading engineering firms, to lead the bankable feasibility study. Underneath Fluor, We have three specialty firms, Worley, who is responsible for the pipeline, Hatch, who is a leader in pressure oxidation and oxygen plants, and WSP, a firm specializes in, among other things, power plants. These are all industry-leading firms that will help us with the bankable feasibility study and taking the project forward into practice. construction, and ultimately operation. I will now turn the call over to Novigold's Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Peter Adamek.

Peter. Thank you, Greg. Turning to our operating performance on slide 15, Novigold reported a fiscal 2026 first quarter net loss of $15.4 million, This represents an increase of 6.3 million from the comparable prior year period, primarily due to higher expenditures at Donlon Gold following the commencement of the bankable feasibility study related activities, including hiring for key roles on the Donlon Gold project team and higher G&A expenses at Novigold. The company's share of Donlon Gold expenses in the first quarter of 2026 was 3.9 million higher than the comparative prior year period due to camp remaining open this winter and increased project activities following Fluor being awarded the lead engineering role for the Donlon Gold bankable feasibility study in early February, 2026. Unlike the comparative prior year period, the company's first quarter results also reflect Novigold 60% interest in Donlon Gold. Novigold's G&A expenses increased in the first quarter of 2026 by 3.9 million from the comparable prior year period, primarily due to higher professional fees and share-based compensation. Professional fees were elevated during the first quarter but remained in line with quarterly cadence expectations and are expected to decline from first quarter levels during the remainder of the year and remain within previously issued 2026 guidance. On slide 16, our treasury increased by $277.4 million to $392.5 million at the end of the first quarter, primarily due to closing of a private placement of approximately... Nova Gold intends to use the net proceeds from the private placement for expenditures associated with Donland Gold activities, exercise of the company's prepayment option on the BERC promissory note, and general corporate purposes. Excluding the financing, corporate G&A costs during the first quarter increased by $3 million, and our share of Donland Gold funding increased by $11.9 million compared to the prior year. Moving to slide 17, our treasury at the end of the first quarter sits at a robust $392.5 million. Novigold is well-funded, enabling it to complete the Donlon Gold Bankable Feasibility Study in 2027 and exercise its option to prepay the Barrick Promissory Note later this year. Our operating cash expenditures in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 remained in line with our 2026 budget and guidance. And with that, I will now turn the presentation back over to Greg to discuss first quarter highlights.

Thank you, Peter.

Slide 18 highlights our continuing engagement with the communities in and around Alaska. You know, we work closely with Chalista and TKC on all of these programs, as well as preparing them and the local people for ultimate employment at mine. All of these programs are a testament to our commitment to total engagement with the local communities and ultimately preparing a workforce for the Donlan project. Turning to slide 19, during the first quarter, we announced the advancement of the Donlon Gold Bankable Feasibility Study, as well as additional engineering firms have been engaged for very specialized components of this study. This integrated approach leverages the deep technical expertise that all of these firms bring.

to the bankable feasibility study.

On slide 20, another development we follow with a lot of interest is the proposal to bring gas down from the north slope into the Cook Inlet, ultimately tying into the header that will feed the Donlan project. We've got a non-binding letter of intent with Glen Farm to evaluate natural gas supply from this proposed pipeline. This pipeline has the potential to be a real game changer for Donlon, giving us access to cheap, reliable, and long-term natural gas. We will continue to advance discussions with Glen Farn as the project moves forward and where they might potentially fit in supporting the infrastructure for the Donlon project.

Last year was really a transformational year for the company.

Post the Merrick transaction, we've steadily made meaningful progress to advance the Don and Gold project through a bankable feasibility study. We're building up the team with expertise to do this, and all while we will continue to engage with our local communities. Turning to slide 22, this highlights our top shareholders. We have always valued their long-term commitment to the project and to the company. I think it's important to note that Paulson, who is now our 40% partner with Donlon, has been a major shareholder in NOVA Gold for over 15 years. This slide also highlights the coverage that Novigold has from various banks. Novigold is focused on delivering on every single commitment we've made, advancing the Don and Gold project through a bankable feasibility study and achieving all of these milestones. Operator, we are now prepared to open the line for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Webcast viewers may submit questions through the text box in the lower right corner of the webcast frame. Our first question is from Francisco Sustanzo with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks a lot for taking my question. I'll just start with the BFS. I appreciate that you'll be giving a more fulsome update on the BFS timeline around mid-year, but given that you've now awarded the engineering contracts for the project, can we consider that the clock on the 12- to 18-month timeline to complete the BFS has now started?

I would say yes. Certainly, we have... You know, got all of the firms in place to do the bankable feasibility study. Fleur hit the ground running. They're obviously the key driver in this. And from where we're sitting today, I'd say give or take a year, we will have it wrapped up.

That's great. Thanks, Greg. And my second question is just going to move to project financing. Just this week, we saw Perpetual Resources announce the approval of a $2.7 billion loan from Ex-Im. And although the projects are obviously different, I'm wondering if you see any read-throughs on the potential debt financing availability for a project that offers significant domestic investment in the U.S., such as Donwin.

Shall I take that one, Greg? Sure. Or do you want us to begin? Go right ahead.

You start it. Go ahead, Tom.

I think that it's very fair to say that when you're building the biggest gold mine in the United States, you're going to have multiple sources of financing that come to the fore. And if I had to hazard a guess, I would say that governments will be a very large component in that. There is, of course, EXIM. I believe that EXIM is very well aware of our project. And for many reasons that you've cited, the domestic component of this story, not only being the largest gold mine in the United States, but being located in a place where it becomes a nexus for the energy story in Alaska, which is of extraordinary importance to this administration. Yes, I think it is fair to say that we should expect that the US government has a serious interest in this story. But equally, I would point out that at least two Asia Pacific countries, Japan and South Korea, have made very substantial commitments to investment in the United States. $550 billion in the case of Japan, $350 billion in the case of Korea. And both of those have advanced in terms of execution over the last several months. I think that it is fair to say that one of the things that we do expect them to be interested in is being able to make quite a statement with Donlan as the biggest, but also as enjoying the fruits of location, location, location. If you're on the Pacific coast of Alaska, you have an opportunity to really develop relationships that are natural in terms of meshing together. The Japanese are very large buyers of gold and the South Korean central bank several months ago announced that it was going to go back into the market to add to its reserves. Their timing was actually quite good. The prospect for us to be able to utilize the benefits, for example, of offtake agreements of, you know, 1.3, 1.4 million ounces a year clearly make us a bit of a unicorn in terms of the ability to attract financing. And I'm not even talking about the other traditional sources. I hope that helps.

Yeah, that's great. Thanks a lot for your response, Tom. That's it for my question. So thanks a lot, team.

The next question is from Sandra Ayar with BYLE Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, team. Congratulations on the quarterly update. My question is on the exploration work. So as you mentioned in your opening remarks, the current resource is just 5% of the land package. So have you planned any 2026 exploration drill program or budget to test further targets, or is that a priority after the bankable feasibility study?

I'll start with that one. You know, we have putting together an exploration plan. More I would describe it as general reconnaissance work throughout the our land holdings and the area in and around Donland. So I think that's getting started. But you have to remember, I think, you know, there's a lot of snow left on the ground in Alaska. So it'll be another month or two before we really can get on the ground. But it's more general recon. You know, we've been studying Donland. We believe the next Donland is at Donland. And we're, you know, in a modest program starting to evaluate.

If I may add just a few words on that, because the drill bit has been my best friend over the last three decades. If I may echo Greg's comment, and this is obviously a very forward-looking statement, but being that for reasons belonging to Barrick's ultimate belief that this would fall into their lap one day or the other. The 95% of the property that's been unexplored is all prime real estate. And we believe that in addition to what we see as low-hanging fruit to add tens of millions of ounces within the eight-kilometer belt, five kilometers of which just simply have have been drilled, shown mineralization, but there was never any follow-up because the deposit was already so big that it was thought you leave that for later. But in addition to the 45 million ounces of resources that we already see, it's low-hanging fruit to add, in our view, tens of millions of more ounces. But we are looking for that other Donlon. You know, in a bear market, People really don't care about exploration results. And so I'm very glad that you asked that question, because in a bull market, great drill results can cause a stock price to double or more. And we do expect to be adding a lot more ounces in the immediate vicinity of the property as we go from the three kilometers to the eight kilometer mineralization. But at the same time, what Greg is referencing is that we are undertaking a project or property-wide analysis in order to identify the best drill targets that are, extrinsic of the eight kilometers, because in our view, the odds that this occurrence is alone Well, Mother Nature is very fickle. We know that the odds are very long in exploration. But I've been in this movie before. And I found that in the case of precious metals, And in the case of hydrocarbons, where we made our biggest killing at Electrum, wildcatting is something that can take a 10x opportunity to 100x. And fortunately, we have a partner who doesn't see exploration success as being a challenge, but John Paulson and his team completely have, you know, aligned with us on understanding that good news through the drill bit is a multiple expander. And if this turns out to be what we hope it is, and it's a hope, this is really the next Carlin. And the partners are aligned in being able to identify that. So when you think of the relatively low cost of exploration versus the high reward, I think you can understand that the partners in Donlin are very keenly aware that we may just be scratching the surface in this story. It remains one of the greatest exploration stories in the world, and that will unfold for the market.

Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I totally agree with that. My question was on that front that exploration work could gain more value in a bull market. Thanks for that. And just one more on the state permitting. Can you walk us through what's left there as a full state permitting checklist? What is in hand? What remains outstanding? And How do we expect the receipt of those permits going forward?

Sure, I'll take that one. You know, the only outstanding state permit is for the tailings dam and other water retention structures. You know, our federal permits, which are all in hand, authorize us to do this work. However, in Alaska, these structures are administered by the state. and they require final engineering drawings before they grant approval. You know, we've submitted the design packages to the state. We'd already completed the geotechnical work, and we expect approval of these permits about the time we're wrapping up the bankable feasibility study. So they're not on the critical path, but, you know, the work to get these permits is well in hand. All of our other remaining state permits are in good standing, as is our federal permits.

Thank you, team. Thank you.

Thank you. I do have a few questions from the webcasts that I wanted to read out. The first is from Eric. Will the BFS include a closure and reclamation estimate, including long-term water treatment and post-closure monitoring assumptions?

I'll start with that one. Yes, it does. Part of the feasibility study and actually the permitting requires you to have approved closure plans that have to be vetted by the state and our native partners. These plans, reclamation and closure, water treatment, they are all part of the commitments in our existing permits. Once the mine is in operation, it will cash fund these permits through a trust. So it's... The procedure is well-defined, and the approvals are all in place for the subsequent reclamation and restoration of the Donovan site post-mining.

Great. Thank you, Greg. The next question comes from Gene. Given the recent share price volatility and now with the feasibility team in place, which upcoming milestone in this study do you believe will be most important in helping the market recognize the project's underlying progress and value?

Well, there's, you know, as I mean, the important piece of this, obviously, is to finish the feasibility study. But along the way, you know, we're advancing many different avenues. I think of particular interest is we will be evaluating third party participation in our gas pipeline and other components of the infrastructure that we could logically bring in a third party to handle. So that will be one of the catalysts coming up as we advance the feasibility study. You know, there will be other milestones along the way as different components of the study are completed, and we will update the marketplace as this work unfolds. But the real key item is finishing the study, and we anticipate it will certainly demonstrate robust economics in this price environment.

Great, thank you. I have a further question that's come through the line from Matt. Dr. Kaplan, at the last quarter's update, you mentioned that your decisions toward Novigold and Donlon were family influence. I have been following Novigold for over 15 years and now have many family members investing in the story. I just wanted to say that I appreciate yours and Novigold's integrity over the years. A big thank you. Could you comment on the recent movement in gold and how that relates to Novogold?

Well, that's very kind. While I'm going to ask our team, could you please call up the chart that references the long-term bull market and the Dow? And just let me know when it's up there.

Yes, the slide is up.

But before that, let me get to the best part of the questioner's remarks. First of all, I find it very gratifying, we all do, that you're able to make this comment about our integrity and your family's investment in Novigold. Needless to say, as Electrum is the largest shareholder of the company, and as the largest shareholder of Electrum is my family, I take it very much to heart that I have a responsibility to my family, but all the other shareholders, and in your case, your own family, to do the best possible thing that we can. I would say that the thing that Greg and I are most proud of since having come into the story together in 2011, we are celebrating 15 years of joyful monogamy. And one of the things that we are most proud of is that any promises that we made, we kept. To the extent that We disappointed, I think, 100 percent of our shareholders understood it was for reasons beyond our control. And we had all the tailwinds that I think and John Paulson thinks will take us to $100 per share. But we had one headwind. And when you think that a year ago, our stock was a two and change dollars and reached 14, and I've no doubt that we will vastly surpass that and multiply past 14. You understand that we took it to heart as much as any shareholder that we were being held back. And once that was relieved, approximately a year ago, we knew that we would be on our way to $10, to $15, to $30, and we think well beyond that, for all of the reasons that have become so clear to everyone, that whether people realize it or not. And I'm not saying we're going back to a gold standard because we'll never see that kind of discipline ever again in human economics. But we are seeing the remonetization of gold. We are seeing that central banks have shown through their purchases that gold is the asset that they hold because it doesn't represent someone else's liability. When central banks hold gold, when central banks buy gold, they're making a statement. to the extent that some central banks need to lay off some gold, as Turkey is said to have, that proves proves to all of the rest of them that gold is the asset that you want to own. Because gold traditionally in a crisis gets hit because if it's in a bull market, it may be one of the only things in which people have a profit. So the ability to not just buy, but the ability to sell something if you need to take some chips off the table, because I don't know. You have missiles that are flying into your territory and need to be taken out with patriots. That's a good thing not to be concerned about. And this is one of the things that I enjoy most. in the time that I've been bullish on gold and publicly so since gold was at $500 in 2007. And when I said my first equilibrium for gold would be between $3,000 and $5,000, people thought I was nuts. Similarly, when I said that silver will go to triple digits, people thought I was nuts. But that's my stock in trade. I don't know how to build a mine. Greg Lang knows how to build a mine. Richard Williams knows how to build a mine. They know how to do it on budget and on schedule. I can't, you know, figure out, you know, how to make chrome work over Safari. But I don't need to. You surround yourself with the very best people. My job is to protect my family's wealth and by extension, all of the families that depend on me, including our management team and including our shareholders. So with that, let me go back to a chart that I spoke to. on our last conference call because I wanted to give people a heads up as to what might happen. Wasn't required, but it might happen. In fact, what I would call the 1987 correction started three days later. Now, I'm not going to say that I was predicting it. I was going to say that it should be expected And for that reason, whereas people who predict a downdraft are seen as Cassandras, I wasn't actually being a Cassandra in this case. And I have been a Cassandra in different cases, like on the Middle East. But in this instance, I was presenting people with my belief that we could have in 1987. 1987 is not so much remembered for how you felt when you thought the world was caving in in October of 87. It was it is and should be remembered as the blip that created the best buying opportunity of the bull market in stocks. The best because we'd already seen the stock market go to twenty seven fifty. And when it pulled back to sixteen fifty, you have to fade these numbers a bit. I'm sorry. That was actually. the cream of the opportunity to be able to build a position if you didn't have one or to add on weakness in a bull market that has all the structural factors going forward. And if anything, we can see that the world is a very different place. I hope that it's going to turn out to be a much safer place. But without getting into politics, the reality is that we're in unchartered waters economically and the debt burden will never be repaid. So just for all these reasons, if you didn't own gold on the way up, taking advantage of a pullback was what I was trying to express. while some people were a little bit upset that I said that there could be such a pullback, the reality is we're looking at it. So look at this chart again, because this is the exact same chart as I issued. And I'll just repeat the sentence again. that I repeated three months ago. As a curiosity, I want you to go back and look back at the mid-1980s. The blip, which barely is noticeable, is the crash of 87 that a lot of us thought was going to be the harbinger of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. You can't even see it as the Dow marched from 1,000 to 45,000, up to 50-some-odd thousand, plus leap in value over the decades. A few days later, 87 began. And then it was compounded by the need for people to be able to have some liquidity due to the war with Iran. So once again, then, let me reiterate in the words of Ray Dalio, one of our greatest contemporary applied historians, gold is now the second largest reserve currency behind the U.S. dollar. To understand why, you need to look at the history of fiat currencies like the dollar and hard currencies like gold. The way I see it, we're currently facing a classic currency devaluation similar to what we saw in the 70s or 80s. In both of those cases, fiat currencies around the world all went down together and all went down in relationship to hard currencies like gold. If events today follow a similar pattern, that makes hard currencies an attractive asset to hold. For all of you who've known me or listened to me over the years, when I was asked which currencies to own, I said, if you have to own a paper currency, own the dollar. But the real currency is gold. And now I don't really know what paper currencies are going to thrive the most, but I will repeat something which I've said now over the last couple of years. Regardless of your view on currencies, against against gold, the dollar is actually collapsing. So every once in a while you'll have a pullback. But the long term trend on gold, to my mind, is going to be very similar. And indeed, price wise, it actually looks it. But that's, you know, coincidence. Very similar to what we saw in the Dow Jones index. And so, for those, if you haven't taken advantage of the pullback, my strong recommendation is that you do. And I can only say that what my family does, we are long-term holders in our flagship gold asset, Donlon, and will absolutely remain so because to our mind, if we sell it, we can't go into something at least as good. We really think impossible to go into anything better. So, you know, thank you for being a long-term shareholder. Thank you for your support. I can tell you it means a lot to us. And the last conference call, for those who managed to, you know, stay through it, one of the callers actually said, that he and his wife had an argument over Novigold during the tough times, but that the revival of Novigold actually saved his marriage. And we regarded that as probably not only the funniest, but the most heartwarming piece of news we'd had all year. So with that, I thank you and all of the shareholders who have kept the faith. All I can do is promise you that I will The entire management team is devoted to being able to unlock the fullest value of what we consider to be the greatest gold development story in the world and what will be the largest single gold mine in the best jurisdiction on the planet. Thank you.

I'd now like to hand the call back over to Greg Lang for concluding remarks.

Well, I just want to thank everybody for taking the time to Get an update on Nova Gold and our chairman's thoughts on gold prices and markets. So, everybody, thank you. We'll be in touch.

This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.