''The plan to sell our 50% interest in the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project is part of NOVAGOLD's strategy of positioning the Company as a pure play on Donlin Gold. In a perfect world, we would keep Galore Creek and take it all the way through the value chain. It's a superb asset: it's huge; the copper grades are strong, with a significant gold kicker; and the resource is growing, with considerable exploration upside. Galore Creek is expected to be the largest low-cost producer in Canada, one of the few safe jurisdictions left for copper miners, a significant consideration when one sees the challenges miners are facing in the Congo, Indonesia, Argentina, Mongolia, Peru, Chile and other significant copper producing countries. Even so, there is only so much a company like ours can do and, much as we would be happy to keep our share of Galore Creek, we concluded that we should seek to monetize the asset value for our future equity component in Donlin Gold. We believe it will pay to be patient. It's important to remember that when we embarked on the sales process, NOVAGOLD's balance sheet was thin. Now with approximately $300 million in the treasury, our ability to be patient in maximizing Galore Creek's value has been dramatically enhanced. Nonetheless, given our commitment to Donlin Gold, we continue to work to sell our share of Galore Creek, but will do so only if the right offer is made. On the other hand, if all offers are, in our view, inadequate, we will continue to enhance its value through exploration and engineering studies on a reduced budget and evaluate further opportunities when market conditions improve.''