NovaCopper Reports Initial NI 43-101 Resource in the Bornite Deposit in Ambler Mining District of Alaska

- Indicated Resource in Ruby Creek Zone of 180 Million Pounds of Copper - Inferred Resource of 885 Million Pounds of Copper - Active Drilling Continues with Four Rigs Operating on the Project NovaCopper Inc. NCQ is pleased to announce the release of an initial NI 43-101 compliant resource for the Ruby Creek Zone of the Bornite deposit for its Upper Kobuk Mineral Project ("UKMP") located in the highly prospective Ambler mining district of northwest Alaska. In October, 2011, NovaCopper and NANA Regional Corporation Inc., an Alaskan Native Corporation, entered into a progressive agreement founded on the unification and cooperative development of the UKMP which includes the Bornite carbonate-hosted copper deposit and the Arctic poly-metallic Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide ("Arctic VMS") deposit (PEA released October 19, 2011 by NovaGold Resources Inc. and updated PEA filed by NovaCopper on April 24, 2012). Highlights -- At a 0.5% copper cutoff grade, the Ruby Creek Zone of the Bornite deposit contains Indicated Resources of 6.8 million tonnes at 1.19% Cu or 178.7 million lbs of contained copper (please see Table 1 for details). -- At a 0.5% copper cutoff grade, the Ruby Creek Zone contains Inferred Resources of 47 million tonnes of 0.84% Cu or 883.2 million lbs of contained copper (please see Table 1 for details). -- The above resources are in addition to the earlier announced resources on the Company's Arctic VMS deposit (please see Table 2 for details). It is important to note that the Ruby Creek Zone resource of the Bornite deposit DOES NOT include any part of the highly prospective South Reef target located roughly 600 meters east of the Ruby Creek Zone resource. Exploration drilling at South Reef encountered exceptional copper values including: DH-187 which intersected 178.0 meters grading 4.01% copper, including a 34.7 meter section grading 12.03% copper; and DH-194 which intersected 110.6 meters of 2.64% copper - none of the drilling on the South Reef target has been included in the current Ruby Creek Zone resource estimate. Additional drilling is currently underway to obtain sufficient data for the preparation of a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the South Reef target.