Mr. Ronald Thiessen reports

NORTHERN DYNASTY RECEIVES FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS) FOR ALASKA'S PEBBLE PROJECT

The final environmental impact statement for Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.'s Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in southwest Alaska has been released by lead federal regulator, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

At more than 2,000 pages, the final EIS is the culmination of a 2-1/2-year-long intensive review process under the National Environmental Policy Act. While led by the USACE, the Pebble EIS also involved eight federal co-operating agencies (including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service), three state co-operating agencies (including Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation), the Lake & Peninsula Borough (LPB), and federally recognized tribes.

Technical, permitting and legal experts for Northern Dynasty and its 100-per-cent-owned U.S.-based subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership have initiated a comprehensive review of the final EIS.

Based on the findings of the draft EIS published in February, 2019, and the preliminary final EIS distributed for co-operating agency review in February, 2020, as well as the Pebble Partnership's careful management and close scrutiny of the federal permitting process, Northern Dynasty believes the final EIS describes a proposed open-pit mine and related project infrastructure that will protect water quality, fisheries, wildlife and other valued natural resources, and that can secure all necessary federal and state permits in future.

Top-line findings from the final EIS executive summary (ES) published today include:

On subsistence fish and wildlife resources:

• "Overall, impacts to fish and wildlife would not be expected to impact harvest levels. Resources would continue to be available because no population-level decrease in resources would be anticipated." (ES 51)

On commercial fishing:

• "There would be no measurable change in the number of returning salmon and the historical relationship between ex-vessel values and wholesale values. In addition, there would be no changes to wholesale values or processor operations expected ... . Under normal operations, the Alternatives would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay." (ES-87)

On water quality:

• "An Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (APDES) permit stipulation requires treated water quality monitoring, to ensure discharged water meets applicable water quality criteria. Assuming these protections are adopted, direct and indirect impacts of treated contact waters to off-site surface water are not expected to occur." (ES-70)

On local communities and socio-economic impacts:

• "The increase in job opportunities, year-round or seasonal employment, steady income and lower cost of living described above would have beneficial impacts on the EIS analysis area, especially for communities in the LPB, during construction and operations of the project." (ES-54)
• "The project could reduce or eliminate the current local population decline because of the increase in employment opportunities and indirect effects on education and infrastructure; it could also lead some prior residents to return to communities." (ES-48)

"We're ecstatic to reach this major milestone in the advancement of the Pebble project -- a modern mineral development proposal that has the potential to become one of the most significant metals producers in the United States, and a major source of jobs, investment, economic activity and government revenues in Alaska," said Northern Dynasty president and chief executive officer Ron Thiessen.

"There is more work to be done, but the publication of the final EIS today is a clear validation that Pebble can be developed in an environmentally sound and socially responsible way, creating benefits and opportunities for the people of Bristol Bay and all Alaskans."

The final EIS describes a proposed open-pit mining operation and associated ore processing facilities in southwest Alaska, an 82-mile road, pipeline and utilities corridor to a permanent, year-round port facility on Cook Inlet, a lightering location in Iniskin Bay, a 164-mile natural gas pipeline from existing energy infrastructure on the Kenai Peninsula to the Pebble mine site, a 270-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant at the mine site, and smaller power generation facility at the port site.

Over 20 years of mining, the Pebble project as proposed will extract about 70 million tons of mineralized material annually at the extremely low strip ratio of just 0.12:1. A conventional blast-haul-crush and froth flotation milling process with nameplate capacity of 180,000 tons per day will be employed to produce, on average, 613,000 tons of copper-gold concentrate each year (containing 318 million pounds Cu, 362,000 ounces Au and 1.8 million oz Ag) and 15,000 tons of molybdenum concentrate (containing 14 million lb Mo).

Shortly following release of the final EIS, the USACE is expected to issue a record of decision with respect to several of Pebble's key federal permits. The Pebble Partnership must also secure a number of permits issued by the State of Alaska, a process expected to take two to three years.

On the strength of the final EIS and ROD expected this summer, Northern Dynasty's goal is to secure a major mining company (or consortium of companies) to become a partner(s) in the Pebble enterprise, and participate in the final stages of project evaluation, design and permitting. In the meantime, the Pebble Partnership will continue to advance programs and partnerships to enhance public and political support for the Pebble project in Alaska, and prepare for state permitting.

Pebble Partnership chief executive officer Tom Collier said the publication of a final EIS is the most significant milestone in the project's history.

"Today was really 15 years in the making," Mr. Collier said. "From the beginning, we dedicated the time, resources and technical work to ensure we had a project that could be done responsibly, be done without harm to the Bristol Bay fishery and provide meaningful contributions to the communities closest to the project. After an extensive, rigorous and transparent review process, the USACE has concluded the Pebble project meets that mark."

Mr. Collier said he expects the final EIS to contribute to growing support for the Pebble project in local villages and statewide, and further enrolment in the Pebble performance dividend revenue sharing program for full-time residents of Bristol Bay.

"Alaskans have demanded that Pebble, and any Alaska resource development project, meet its high standards before the project could advance," he said. "Today, we have passed a critical milestone on that journey."

Stephen Hodgson, PEng, vice-president of engineering for Northern Dynasty, reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

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 Limited Partnership, is a 100-per-cent interest in a contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit.

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