VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 14, 2012) - NovaGold Resources Inc. (TSX:NG)(NYSE Amex:NG) ("NovaGold" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's 2012 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders will take place on Tuesday, May 29 at 2:00 pm (PDT) at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel (1038 Canada Place Way) in the Star Sapphire C room. NovaGold is also pleased to announce that the 2011 Annual Integrated Report has been filed on SEDAR and EDGAR and is available on the homepage of the Company's website at www.novagold.com.

Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders Conference Call and Webcast Details

The Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders will be available by conference call or online via live webcast. The details are as follows:

Tuesday, May 29 at 2:00 pm PDT (5:00 pm EDT)

Online: www.meetview.com/novagold or www.novagold.net

North American callers: 1-866-212-4491

International callers: 1-416-800-1066

NovaGold welcomes its shareholders and any interested parties to participate in the Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders. The webcast will be archived on NovaGold's website for one year; and the conference call replay will be available for 14 days. To access the conference call replay please dial 1-866-583-1035 followed by your Access PIN: 9537294. For a transcript of the call please email [email protected].

NovaGold's 2011 Annual Integrated Report

NovaGold's 2011 Annual Integrated Report covers a transformational period in NovaGold's 15-year history. Across the entire arc of its asset base, the Company's projects were de-risked by the following positive developments:

• Donlin Gold, NovaGold's flagship project, successfully passed feasibility and has emerged as perhaps the most important gold development asset in the world today;
• Galore Creek, a major copper/gold asset, successfully passed pre-feasibility and has been shown to have the potential to be Canada's largest copper mine;
• Ambler is a copper-rich district now owned by NovaCopper Inc. (an independent publicly traded company), which was spun out from NovaGold earlier this month. One of its deposits, called Arctic, was the subject of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment. In addition, significant high-grade intersections were obtained from drill results on the Bornite deposit, also located in the Ambler district, which is emerging as one of the industry's most exciting copper exploration plays.

"Armed with these exceptional results, our management team and Board of Directors recognized the need, and devised a strategic plan, to unlock the value of the Company's world-class mining development and exploration assets," said Gregory A. Lang, NovaGold's President and Chief Executive Officer. "With the successful execution of this strategy, and now also being in the fortunate position of having a robust balance sheet, we have created, quite possibly, the most significant de-risked development-stage company in our sector."