Northern Dynasty announces hiring of senior technical leadership for Alaska's Pebble Project

Senior VP Engineering & Project Director Stephen Hodgson and VP Permitting James Fueg join Pebble team

VANCOUVER, Oct. 12, 2017 /CNW/ - Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NDM; NYSE MKT: NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") announced today that the Pebble Limited Partnership ("Pebble Partnership" or "PLP") 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 (P. Eng.) 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 socioeconomic 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 Partnership CEO 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."

Stephen 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. 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.

James 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 Corporation to serve as Technical Services Manager for the Donlin Gold Project in western Alaska, where he played a leadership role managing the EIS 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," NDM President & CEO 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 US subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership and other wholly-owned subsidiaries, is a 100% interest in a contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit. The Pebble Partnership is the proponent of the Pebble Project, an initiative to develop one of the world's most important mineral resources.

For further details on Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Project, please visit the Company's website at www.northerndynasty.com  or contact Investor services at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114. Review Canadian public filings at www.sedar.com and US public filings at www.sec.gov.

Ronald W. Thiessen
President & CEO

Forward Looking Information and other Cautionary Factors

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the Company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in its forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of the ultimate size, quality or commercial feasibility of the Pebble Project or of the Company's future performance or the outcome of litigation.

Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward-looking statements include the following: the Pebble Project will obtain all required environmental and other permits and all land use and other licenses, studies and development of the Pebble Project will continue to be positive, and no geological or technical problems will occur. The likelihood of future mining at the Pebble Project is subject to a large number of risks and will require achievement of a number of technical, economic and legal objectives, including obtaining necessary mining and construction permits, approvals, licenses and title on a timely basis and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, the final outcome of any litigation, completion of pre-feasibility and final feasibility studies, preparation of all necessary engineering for surface or underground mining and processing facilities as well as receipt of significant additional financing to fund these objectives as well as funding mine construction. Such funding may not be available to the Company on acceptable terms or on any terms at all. There is no known ore at the Pebble Project and there is no assurance that the mineralization at the Pebble Project will ever be classified as ore. The need for compliance with extensive environmental and socio-economic rules and practices and the requirement for the Company to obtain government permitting can cause a delay or even abandonment of a mineral project. The Company is also subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com

SOURCE Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.