BGD Barrick Gold

    FOR:  BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION

NYSE, TSX SYMBOL:  ABX
LSE SYMBOL:  BGD

December 1, 2006

Barrick Says No Discussions With NovaGold

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Dec. 1, 2006) - Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX)(LSE:BGD)
confirmed today that its US$16 per share offer for all NovaGold shares will expire on Wednesday, December 6,
2006, and will not be extended or amended.

In response to reports that there may be discussions between Barrick and NovaGold regarding a "friendly"
acquisition transaction, Barrick confirms that no such discussions have taken place and that Barrick has no
intention of engaging in any such discussions with NovaGold. Any suggestions to the contrary are false and
misleading.

Barrick, which currently owns approximately 14% of NovaGold's shares, will acquire any and all shares tendered
to its offer on December 6th. Barrick will announce on December 7th the final results from its offer for
NovaGold.

Barrick's US$16.00 offer price represents a premium of approximately 37 per cent over both the closing price of
the NovaGold common shares on the AMEX on July 21, 2006, the last trading day prior to Barrick's announcement
of its intention to make the offer, and the price at which shares were issued in NovaGold's February 2006
equity offering. Barrick's offer represents approximately 1.6 times NovaGold's net asset value - this is
equivalent to the trading multiples of senior gold producers and is much higher than the typical multiples for
development stage gold companies, particularly those with significant base metals exposure.

The Circular for Barrick's offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of NovaGold is available on
Barrick's website at www.barrick.com, from the Canadian System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval
at www.sedar.com or on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Barrick's vision is to be the world's best gold company by finding, acquiring, developing and producing quality
reserves in a safe, profitable and socially responsible manner.

On August 4, 2006, Barrick Gold Corporation filed a tender offer statement related to its tender offer for the
outstanding common shares of NovaGold Resources Inc. Investors and security holders of NovaGold are urged to
read the tender offer statement, because it contains important information. Investors and security holders of
NovaGold may obtain a free copy of the tender offer statement and other documents filed by Barrick Gold
Corporation with the SEC at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The tender offer statement may also be obtained
for free from Barrick Gold Corporation on its website or by directing a request to Barrick Gold Corporation's
investor relations department.


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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

INVESTOR CONTACTS:
Barrick Gold Corporation
James Mavor
Vice President, Investor Relations
(416) 307-7463
Email: jmavor@barrick.com

OR

Barrick Gold Corporation
Mary Ellen Thorburn
Director, Investor Relations
(416) 307-7363
Email: mthorburn@barrick.com

OR

MEDIA CONTACT:
Vincent Borg
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
(416) 307-7477
Email: vborg@barrick.com

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Barrick Gold Corporation



                                                                

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