Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NOVAGOLD 2019 Year-End Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Melanie Hennessey, Vice President of Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Ariel, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased that you've joined us for NOVAGOLD's 2019 year-end financial results and for an update on the Donlin Gold project. On today's call we have Dr. Thomas Kaplan, NOVAGOLD's Chairman; Greg Lang, NOVAGOLD's President and CEO; and David Ottewell, NOVAGOLD's Vice President and CFO. At the end of the webcast, we will take questions both by phone and by text. But before we get started I would like to remind our listeners that as stated on slide three any statements made today may contain forward-looking information such as projections and goals which are likely to involve risks detailed in our various EDGAR and SEDAR filings and forward-looking disclaimers that are included in this presentation. With that, I have the pleasure of introducing Greg Lang, NOVAGOLD's President and CEO. Greg?

Thank you, Melanie, and good morning, everyone. Our primary asset is the federally permitted Donlin Gold project in Western Alaska that is 50% owned by NOVAGOLD and 50% by our long-term partner Barrick Gold. As shown on the image on slide four, Donlin is located approximately 300 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska. Slide five highlights the 2019 activities with the receipt of several state permits, the advancement of the geotechnical field program and progress on our ongoing optimization efforts. With the receipt of the final easements for the access road and fiber optic cable, land use permits and site authorizations for the proposed transportation facilities, our track record of successfully permitting this project was enhanced. Additionally Alaska's division of oil and gas is finalizing the right-of-way authorizations for the natural gas pipeline, which is expected to be received in the first quarter of this year. This work takes an unwavering attention to detail and transparency from Donlin Gold with the support and contributions of Calista, TKC and the communities that are closest to the mine site. We greatly appreciate the dedicated efforts of the entire team and the state of Alaska in advancing permits and approvals for the project and their commitment to environmental and governance best practices. Approval of the dam safety certificate for the tailing storage facility and water retention structures is a multiyear commitment to deliver the final design package to the state. Activities commenced in mid-2019 to advance engineering work on the tailings facility and other structures to a feasibility level stage as required by the dam’s safety certificate application. Donlin Gold also progressed on its optimization efforts in 2019 and gathered additional data to establish a solid plan in 2020 that will give the owners a greater understanding of the geologic model and the higher grade gold mineralization controls, all of which have the potential to benefit the project and serve as the basis for an updated study. We are dedicated to keeping our community partnerships strong and engage on environmental safety and cultural initiatives. To that end in 2019, NOVAGOLD and Donlin Gold participated in numerous community activities and projects, including those highlighted on slide six. We were the key sponsors of a program to remove nearly 100,000 pounds of hazardous material from 14 isolated villages on the Kuskokwim River. We supported education and training to prepare youth to enter the workforce. With the support of its owners, Donlin Gold continued its outreach efforts with our native corporation partners Calista Corporation via meetings and tribal councils and other stakeholder engagements throughout the year. We believe that community engagement and support can act as a catalyst for sustainable improvements in the quality of life for many affected by poverty and lack of opportunities in the project's region. And with that, I'll turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, David Ottewell.

Thank you, Greg. Slide seven highlights our operating performance for the fourth quarter and year. Our fourth quarter net loss from continuing operations increased by $1.5 million to $7.9 million, primarily due to the geotech program that Greg mentioned, partially offset by lower G&A costs. For the year, share-based compensation expense included in G&A, decreased by $1.5 million, due to changes in the company's long-term incentive program. The vesting period for new stock options and PSUs were extended to three years from two years. Other income was favorably impacted by interest income on funds received from the sale of Galore Creek in July 2018. Cash flows are highlighted on slide 8. Cash used in continuing operations during the fourth quarter of 2019 and for the year, included higher spending at Donlin Gold due to the geotechnical field work offset by lower G&A costs and higher interest income. We ended the year with cash and term deposits of $148.5 million. Turning to slide 9, we note our healthy treasury. We also have $100 million receivable from Newmont in the next three years and the potential for another $75 million, should the Galore Creek project owners approve a construction plan. In 2020, we anticipate spending approximately $31 million, which includes $20 million to fund our share of expenditures at the Donlin Gold project, the majority earmarked from the drilling program with the balance on permitting and community engagement and $11 million for G&A costs. Greg?

Thank you, Dave. These are exciting times to be in the gold space and particularly invested in a unique product like Donlin Gold, a federally permitted project with strong long-term partnerships with the communities in Western Alaska. And we're in a jurisdiction, where the rule of law is not a novelty. On slide 10, we compared Donlin's almost 40 million ounces in resources to 14 other development stage projects in the industry. Compared to the peer group, Donlin is better than twice the size of the average and more – and double that of the nearest comparable. The scale of the resource is a key attribute. Another is the grade as shown on slide 11. The average grade of Donlin's sets it apart from other open pit deposits. At 2.25 grams, it's double the industry average. With scale and grade, if it was built today Donlin would be the largest producing gold mine in the industry. For the long-term investor, there's additional value that comes with a mine that has a multi-decade lifespan. As currently envisioned in its first five years, Donlin would average 1.5 million ounces a year production followed by over a million ounces throughout its life of mine as shown on slide 12. There are a few mines in the world existing or proposed with that level of gold production. Looking at comparable scale mining operations around the globe, Donlin would rank among the top operations. Slide 13 shows the 10 largest producing operations globally, only four are expected to produce more than a million ounces a year in 2019. Further illustrating that projects like Donlin are scarce and they are needed to replenish the industry's diminishing reserves. As shown on slide 14, the ACMA and Lewis deposits contain the 39 million ounce resource, but occupy only…

Thank you, Greg. I hope everyone can hear me. It's a pleasure to be able to follow such an exposition by Greg Lang and Dave Ottewell on the strength of the Donlin project and of NOVAGOLD, as a vehicle with which to be able to play gold. We believe that the Donlin project represents the greatest single option for warrant on the upside of gold does that exist in the marketplace. And fortunately, so there have been a number of events which have taken place over the last year, which have only reinforced our conviction. If you look at the slide on page 18, the point here is to evidence that while it's not quite true that history repeats itself, it often rhymes. I think that this chart represents something which will be akin to the kind of move that we see in gold. For a variety of reasons I believe that the fundamentals of gold suggests that move can be even larger. Only so as not to scare people, we don't put up the chart of what gold really could do based on what the Dow Jones has done since the early 1980s. But I personally would not be surprised if that happens. Most of that but not all of it would be a function of supply and demand. But we now live in unchartered waters in political, economic and social spheres that make gold a cornerstone holding of any portfolio. The question is not whether but when all fiduciaries realize that they have to go back to being able to have some presence in gold. When that happens, this kind of a chart as we see on Slide 19, could turn out to be more akin to an advertiser than the main course because the gold simply isn't…

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Lucas Pipes of B. Riley FBR.

Hey, good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask about the 2020 drilling program. And what specifically kind of key objectives are for this campaign? Thank you.

Good morning, Lucas. Yes, this program is really building on a program we conducted a couple of years ago when we were advancing the hypothesis that the high-grade structures are contiguous enough to mine discretely. And working with our partner we looked and revisited the geologic model and the hypothesis held up through the first round of drilling. And this year's program will extend, is targeted to extend the high-grade mineralized structures we encountered before, particularly in the early phases of the mine life. So we think the program has sufficient value that we're investing over $20 million to advance these theories. And it's always – whenever we drill at Donlin, it's always exciting. We've never been disappointed and we're looking forward to updating all of our stakeholders as the results come in.

That sounds very, very interesting. So best of luck with that campaign and look forward to the results on that as well. My second question might be just a touch early. But when I think back to the second feasibility study and obviously a lot of assumptions in there and some of them under review such as with Vista drilling program. But the mining cycle has come and gone, cost CapEx inflation has come and gone in the mining sector. When you think about kind of the capital cost for this – for Donlin today, do you envision big pluses, big minuses? Where are the kind of major pieces of potential variation compared to the second feasibility study? Thank you.

Thank you, Lucas. I think the – probably the most material change to the overall capital for the project is advancing the concept to build it in two stages. And that in itself significantly reduces the capital upfront. And that's something we've certainly done with many projects over the years that I'm involved – had been involved with and it makes a lot of sense for both owners. And the benefit of a smaller scale project to begin with as you can mine more discretely and enhance the grade particularly in the early years. So, we think there's opportunity through higher grade offset some of the economies of scale we lose. But back to your question, the market is still pretty much in favor of projects like Donlin right now compared to where it was five six years ago. Heavy equipment demand is soft and most of the major inputs to the project there slightly down from where we saw a few years ago. Yes, I wouldn't say it's dramatic, but there's -- the upward pressure has decreased. And also the state of Alaska where most -- the labor would be sourced from is experiencing an economic downturn with the witnessed in oil prices. So, labor which is a big input to projects like this is down a little bit. And we're also as we're getting further advancing our thinking the opportunity to bring in third-party participation for some of the capital is very timely. So, quite a few factors moving in the right direction and nothing really -- nothing worrisome in the trends that we've seen in recent years.

Thank you very much Greg. That's very helpful. And maybe one question for Tom. Tom thank you very much for all the color on the project and the broader market environment for gold. And I want to ask you a little bit more about the comments regarding the insider buying as you put it from the central banks. Do you anticipate that trend to continue and maybe to accelerate? And what do you think is ultimately driving them towards gold? Thank you very much.

First of all, thank you Lucas. Let me take that answer in two parts. What's driving them is that more than ever before the central banks are in unchartered waters in terms of their twin mandate whether they acknowledge the mandate or not it's a combination of inflation as well as promoting growth and lower unemployment. Certainly in most of the western world, there is a direct correlation between economic distress and the kind of political dichotomy that you're seeing in Europe as well as [indiscernible]. So, -- social mandate to their work. Economics have thrown out the window. You now have -- to a central banker they understand that in the end there is no free lunch. And being able to have assets that do not represent someone else's liability to honor it or to repay it. When you own gold you really own something. This is very attractive to them. The first area of importance for the gold investor is that the central banks who up until few years ago were sellers particularly during the bear market for gold have now pivoted. The path of least resistance for a bureaucrat is not to buck the trend, that's for sure. So, the first thing that they do is to stop selling because when they see the price go up, if they've advocated to their bosses that they should sell goals and it turns out that that didn't work, they can lose their jobs. Now think about the psychology of that. They're not paid too in 2020 to actually take a risk. They're paid to first and foremost do no harm, which means follow the trend, follow the conventional wisdom and not get fired for being too out of their lane. So what you've seen with the Western Central banks…

That’s very helpful. Very much appreciated and -- to everyone on the team my best of luck and great job so far. Thank you.

Thank you, Lucas.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Greg Lang for any closing remarks.

Well, everyone thank you for joining us on our call this morning and we look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the year.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.