Preliminary Economic Assessment of Northern Freegold's Nucleus and Revenue Deposits Generates $615 Million NPV and 23% IRR

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 20, 2013) - Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:NFR)(OTCQX:NFRGF)(FRANKFURT:8N6) is pleased to announce results of a NI 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the Nucleus and Revenue deposits at the road accessible Freegold Mountain Project, in the Yukon, Canada. The project is 100% owned by Northern Freegold (the "Company").

The PEA was prepared by GeoVector Management Inc. The PEA was prepared as an open pit mining project. The project expects to yield a pre-tax net present value of $614.8 million and an internal rate of return ("IRR") of 23.4% at a 5% discount rate using three year trailing average prices of US $1455 per ounce gold, $3.65 per pound copper, $14 per pound molybdenum1, and $27.55 per ounce silver respectively. At recent prevailing spot commodity prices the pre-tax NPV (5%) and IRR increase to $779.6 million and 29.7% respectively. The results of the PEA demonstrate the potential technical and economic viability of a new gold with copper and molybdenum mine on the property. All $ are Canadian except where indicated.

Highlights:

• Average Life of Mine ("LOM") annual production is forecasted at 150,000 oz gold, 17.3 million lbs copper, 4.2 million lbs molybdenum and 355,000 oz silver;
• First five years average annual gold production exceeds 200,000 oz;
• Average LOM cash cost of gold (net of byproducts) is $399 per oz;
• NPV (5%) $614.8 million pre-tax; IRR 23.4% pre-tax;
• NPV (5%) $357.8 million after-tax; IRR 17.5% after-tax;
• Throughput: 30,000 tonnes per day;
• Strip ratio over LOM 2.03:1;
• Mine life: 11 years;
• Pre-production capital of $499.7 million and Expansion capital of $78.6 million for mill additions in Year 5;
• Payback period from production: 4.2 years;
• At recent prevailing spot metal prices, the project generates a pre-tax NPV (5%) of $779.6 million, IRR of 29.7% and a payback of 3.2 years (see Sensitivity Analysis Table).

The PEA is considered by Northern Freegold as the current optimized development scenario for the Freegold Mountain project based on the existing resources at Nucleus and Revenue. Both the Nucleus and Revenue deposits remain open as to depth and width providing future potential to significantly increase the size of the resource. Exploration data on the property clearly indicates that substantial potential exists for scaling up the project economics, and this upside includes:

• Numerous mineralized showings occur outside the current NI 43-101 resource areas with similar characteristics to Nucleus or Revenue which have seen minimal exploration and have the potential to develop into additional mineral deposits;
• Twelve priority geophysical anomalies associated with significant soil copper and gold geochemical anomalies have been identified for further exploration and have the potential to develop into additional mineral deposits. This includes the 3 kilometre long zone between the Nucleus and Revenue deposits.

"This is a key milestone for Northern Freegold," said John Burges, President & CEO, "this PEA demonstrates robust economics. The phased development with initial production at the Nucleus gold deposit helps to reduce upfront capital. Over 62% of the revenues are from gold production at an operating cost of less than $400 per ounce after byproduct credits. We have successfully grown the Nucleus/Revenue gold resource over 300% over the last four years and on a gold equivalent basis over 700%. Our exploration/drilling discovery costs for the 2012 inaugural Revenue resource were low at ~ $3 per gold ounce and $1 per gold equivalent ounce. There remain significant opportunities to grow the resources adjacent to the conceptual pits and extend the mine life, and there are many other high priority targets on the 10 km geophysical anomaly which have the potential to develop into near surface higher grade deposits."