NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwire) -- 12/31/12 -- Electrum Global Holdings L.P. (the "Offeror") announces that as part of an internal reorganization involving GRAT Holdings LLC ("Holdings"), which principally controls each of Leopard Holdings LLC ("Leopard"), The Electrum Group LLC ("TEG Services"), the Offeror, the sole general partner of the Offeror, TEG Global GP Ltd. ("Global GP"), and Electrum Strategic Resources L.P. (formerly Electrum Strategic Resources LLC) ("ESRL"), which occurred on December 28 and 31, 2012 (the "Closing"): (i) 5,000,000 common shares (each, a "Common Share") in the capital of NovaGold Resources Inc. (the "issuer") of the 53,232,201 Common Shares then held by ESRL were transferred to Holdings, leaving ESRL holding 48,232,201 Common Shares and warrants (each, a "Warrant") to purchase up to 31,337,278 Common Shares; and (ii) 100% of the interest in ESRL was transferred to the Offeror. Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof, upon payment of the exercise price of $1.479, to acquire one Common Share and one-sixth of one common share in the capital of NovaCopper Inc. ("NovaCopper").

In addition, on December 31, 2012, ESRL exercised all 31,337,278 Warrants and acquired 31,337,278 Common Shares and 5,222,879 common shares of NovaCopper (the "Warrant Exercise").

Following the Closing and the Warrant Exercise, the Offeror (through ESRL) and Holdings hold 79,569,479 and 5,000,000 Common Shares, respectively, or 25.6% and 1.6%, respectively, of the issued and outstanding Common Shares, with the result being that Holdings has direct and indirect control over 84,569,479 Common Shares, representing 27.2% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares.

The Common Shares referred to above are held for investment purposes and the Offeror and/or one or more of its joint actors (Holdings, Leopard, Global GP, TEG Services and ESRL) may, depending on market and other conditions, increase or decrease its beneficial ownership of Common Shares or other securities of the issuer whether in the open market, by privately negotiated agreement or otherwise.

The Offeror is located at 535 Madison Avenue, 11th Floor, New York, NY, USA 10022. A copy of the early warning report relating to the Closing and the Warrant Exercise can be obtained from Michael Williams (646-365-1600) or on the SEDAR profile of the issuer at www.sedar.com.