NovaGold Resources Inc. announced that Richard Williams promotes as Chief Operating Officer, effective January 1, 2024, and welcome Benjamin (?Ben?) Machlis who recently joined as NOVAGOLD?s Vice President and General Counsel. Richard has led the engineering and technical program at NOVAGOLD for over a decade. His knowledge and commitment to the company has been pivotal in the development and continued success of the Donlin Gold project since joining the NOVAGOLD team in 2012.

Previously, Richard spent over 30 years with Barrick Gold developing and operating major mines. He has extensive experience in autoclave technology served as Project Director of the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic. Richard?s seven-year tenure at Pueblo Viejo capped a career where he progressively held top operating roles which included the design, construction and operation of mineral processing facilities of major mines such as Goldstrike in Nevada and Mercur in Utah.

Ben, is an experienced natural resources and environmental attorney. Ben spent the last seven years as a partner at Dorsey & Whitney where he chaired its regulatory affairs practice group, which houses its natural resources, energy, environmental, cybersecurity, workplace safety, and telecom attorneys and represented mining, renewable development, and other industrial companies on permitting, project development, operational compliance, closure, and remediation issues. Prior to Dorsey & Whitney, Ben was with the law firm Holland & Hart and served as an environmental policy advisor at the Utah Governor's Office.

He received his undergraduate and J.D. degrees from the University of Utah.