Mr. Ronald Thiessen reports

NORTHERN DYNASTY ANNOUNCES HIRING OF SENIOR TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP FOR ALASKA'S PEBBLE PROJECT

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.'s Pebble LP has filled two senior technical positions to lead engineering design and regulatory permitting for southwest Alaska's Pebble project.

Senior vice-president of engineering and project director Stephen Hodgson (PEng) will lead Pebble's engineering and project development team, with responsibility for all aspects of project design, engineering and financial studies, and regulatory compliance. He will be supported by vice-president of permitting James Fueg (PMP, CPG), who assumes responsibility for all aspects of the project's regulatory permitting team and process, including management of environmental and socio-economic studies, liaison with federal and state agencies, and active management of Pebble's forthcoming environmental impact statement (EIS) process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

"I couldn't be more pleased with the technical leadership we have assembled to finalize our permit applications and lead Pebble into and through the NEPA and EIS permitting process beginning later this year," said Pebble LP chief executive officer Tom Collier. "In Stephen and James, not only do we gain decades of experience working with the world's leading mining companies on many of the most significant projects around the globe, we benefit from their long-standing experience in Alaska.

"We now have a dedicated leadership team in place in Anchorage that is not only committed to the financial and permitting success of the Pebble project, but one that shares Alaskans' interests in ensuring our project protects clean water, healthy fisheries and traditional ways of life, while making a profound positive contribution to the people and economies of the region and the state."

Mr. Hodgson is a professional engineer with more than 40 years of experience in consulting, project management, feasibility-level design and implementation, and mine operations at some of the most significant mineral development projects in the world -- including the Pine Point zinc mine in Northern Canada, the Red Dog zinc mine in Alaska, Antamina in Peru and the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. Mr. Hodgson has led the engineering group at Northern Dynasty and Hunter Dickinson Inc. since 2005, has played a central role on the engineering team for Pebble for more than a decade, and was part of the Cominco team that evaluated the Pebble deposit in the early 1990s.

Mr. Fueg is a geologist and a geophysicist with more than 25 years of experience in mineral exploration and resource development, including more than 20 years working in Alaska. He was most recently seconded from Barrick Gold Corp. to serve as technical services manager for the Donlin gold project in western Alaska, where he played a leadership role managing the environmental impact statement and NEPA permitting process for a project expected to receive a final record of decision in 2018.

"We have a great deal of confidence in both the technical capabilities of the project's leadership team and their commitment to the project and to the state of Alaska," Northern Dynasty president and chief executive officer Ron Thiessen said. "These are major pieces of the first-class team we are assembling to lead this world-class project into permitting."

About Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

Northern Dynasty is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, Canada. Northern Dynasty's principal asset, owned through its wholly owned Alaska-based U.S. subsidiary Pebble LP and other wholly owned subsidiaries, is a 100-per-cent interest in a contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit. The Pebble LP is the proponent of the Pebble project, an initiative to develop one of the world's most important mineral resources.

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