Eagle Plains' Copper Canyon Property adds 2.8M oz Gold, 37M oz Silver and 1.1B lbs Copper to NovaGold's Galore Creek Project

Market Wire, January, 2005

Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: EPL) has been notified by partner NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX: NG) (TSX: NG), that an inferred resource has been defined by Hatch Ltd. on behalf of NovaGold on Eagle Plains' Copper Canyon gold-silver-copper project located in northwestern British Columbia. Exploration at Copper Canyon is being conducted concurrently with work on the contiguous Galore Creek project, controlled 100% by NovaGold. Management of Eagle Plains and NovaGold are encouraged with the development of this initial resource at Copper Canyon and the potential to further expand the near-surface gold rich mineralization with additional work in 2005.

NovaGold may earn a 60% interest in the Copper Canyon project from EPL by completing C$3 million in exploration expenditures, issuing a total of 296,000 shares of NovaGold and making property payments totaling C$250,000. NovaGold may earn an additional 20% interest in the project for a total of 80% by paying Eagle Plains C$1 million and completing a feasibility study by September 2011 NovaGold has recently issued the following news release. Maps in PDF format may be viewed at www.eagleplains.ca

Highlights

* A significant new Inferred Category gold, silver and copper resource has been defined on the Copper Canyon property located 5 kilometers east of the main Central zone deposit at the Galore Creek Project in Northwestern British Columbia.

* This new resource substantially expands the previously reported resources for Galore Creek. The Copper Canyon deposit remains open to expansion in all directions and at depth and further definition and expansion drilling is planned in 2005.

* The independent resource estimate at Copper Canyon is the first of three new target area resource estimates currently in progress for the Galore Creek project. Initial resource estimates for the Junction and West Fork deposits, and an update on the main Central/Southwest deposit are anticipated to be completed during the remainder of the quarter.

2004 Drilling Defines New Gold, Silver and Copper Resource at Copper Canyon

A significant new Inferred Category resource estimate completed by independent engineering firm, Hatch Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, shows that the Copper Canyon target at the Galore Creek project in Northwestern British Columbia contains over 2.86 million ounces of gold, 37.9 million ounces of silver and 1.16 billion pounds of copper at a 0.35% copper equivalent cut-off grade (CuEq)(1) (See Table 1 below). Copper Equivalent grades are based both on long-term average metal prices and estimated recoveries based on extensive metallurgical data from the adjacent Galore Creek Central/SW deposit. The estimate utilized a geologic model developed from the previously announced drilling at Copper Canyon during 2004 by NovaGold and historic results which had encountered significant widths of gold, silver and copper mineralization.

Table 1 :  COPPER CANYON TARGET - INFERRED RESOURCE

                                                Million   Million   Million
Cutoff    Size              Grade                 lbs.      Ozs       Ozs
           M      Cu     Au       Ag
CuEq(%)  Tonnes  (%)    (g/t)    (g/t)   CuEq(%)    Cu      Au        Ag

0.35     164.8   0.35    0.54     7.15    0.74    1,160     2.86     37.91

0.50     116.1   0.41    0.64     8.30    0.87      950     2.39     30.98

0.70      63.0   0.50    0.86    10.21    1.11      625     1.73     20.68

1.00      29.2   0.65    1.14    13.03    1.45      381     1.07     12.23

1.30      15.6   0.83    1.32    15.70    1.72      258     0.66      7.87

Note: (1) Copper equivalent calculations use metal prices of US$375/oz for gold, US$5.50/oz for silver and US$0.90/lb for copper. Copper equivalent calculations (CuEq%) reflect gross metal content that have been adjusted for metallurgical recoveries based on the following criteria: Copper Recovery = (%Cu-0.06)/%Cu with a minimum of 50% and Maximum of 95%; Gold Recovery = (Au g/t - 0.14)/Au g/t with a minimum of 30% and Maximum of 80%; and Silver Recovery = 80%.

NovaGold may acquire up to an 80% interest in the Copper Canyon property under an option from Eagle Plains Resources (TSX-V: EPL). The property directly adjoins the main Galore Creek property and NovaGold is exploring Copper Canyon as part of its overall Galore Creek project.

The results from the 2004 drilling at Copper Canyon, combined with the earlier results, have defined a broad area of precious metal rich mineralization at least 700 meters by 400 meters which is open to expansion in all directions and at depth. The mineralization begins at surface continuing to as much as 300 meters depth and occurs as a roughly 100+ meter thick zone of disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite hosted within an intrusive porphyry complex.

The new resource estimate was based on a three-dimensional geologic and mineralization model that integrates 6,850 meters (22,500 feet) of drilling in 21 core holes with a total of 4,749 assays. Grades for the block model were estimated using ordinary kriging procedures. Mineralization was composited on 6 meter intervals with high-grade samples capped based on lognormal probability plots. Due to the relatively widespread spacing of the drilling at Copper Canyon all resources in this estimate were classified as Inferred.