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

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

October 12, 2017 Vancouver – 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

Canadian Media Contact:

Ian Hamilton

DFH Public Affairs

(416) 206-0118 x.222

US Media Contact:

Dan Gagnier

Gagnier Communications

(646) 569-5897

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 obt ain all

required environmental and other permits and all land use and other licenses, studies and development of the Pebble Project w ill

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, incl uding

obtaining necessary mining and construction permits, approvals, licenses and title on a timely basis and delay s 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 necessa ry 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 class ified 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