Northgate Announces Appointment of Paul Dowd and Richard Hall to its Board of Directors

VANCOUVER, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, NYSE ALTERNEXT/AMEX: NXG) today reported changes to its board of directors and is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Paul J. Dowd and Mr. Richard J. Hall as directors of Northgate. These appointments follow the retirement of two of Northgate’s directors, Mr. Keith C. Hendrick and Mr. Klaus V. Konigsmann, who have served on the board since 2003.

Ken Stowe, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “I am extremely pleased to announce the appointment of two new directors to our board. Both Paul and Richard bring a wealth of experience in the mining industry, with specific focus on operations in North America and Australia. Their expertise will be invaluable to the future growth of Northgate, as we develop and expand the Fosterville and Stawell Mines, move forward with the Young-Davidson project, and look for additional opportunities for growth and development of our company. I would also like to thank Keith Hendrick and Klaus Konigsmann for their leadership and distinguished service to our board over the past five years.”

Mr. Dowd’s professional career spans more than 40 years in the public and private sectors, where he has developed businesses and managed mining operations in Australia, US, Africa, Europe and Asia. He has previously held positions as Managing Director of Newmont Australia Limited and Vice President Australia and New Zealand. Prior to the merger with Newmont and Franco-Nevada, he was Group Executive – Operations for Normandy Mining Limited with responsibility for the group’s global managed mining interests. Mr. Dowd is currently Managing Director of Phoenix Copper Limited, Chairman of the Board of the South Australian Resources & Engineering Skills Alliance, Chairman of the Resources Sector Infrastructure Council of South Australia, Chairman of Adelaide Resources Ltd., and a non-executive director of Regis Resources Ltd. and Buka Gold Ltd. He also serves as an advisory councillor for the South Australian Minerals and Petroleum Expert Group.

Mr. Hall has over 35 years of mining exploration and development experience. Over the past nine years, Mr. Hall served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Metallica Resources Inc., a publicly-traded mining company listed on the TSX and on the AMEX. During his time at Metallica, he was responsible for the financing, construction and commissioning of the Cerro San Pedro mine in Mexico, which has an average annual production of 80,000 and 3.5 million ounces of gold and silver, respectively. Mr. Hall also participated in the discovery and development of the El Morro deposit located in Chile through to a final feasibility study. This work was done in conjunction with Metallica’s operating partner on the project, Xstrata Copper. In August 2008, Metallica was part of a $1.6 billion merger with Peak Gold Ltd. and New Gold Inc. Previous to Metallica, Mr. Hall held senior management positions with Dayton Mining Corporation and Pegasus Gold Corporation.

Northgate is also pleased to announce the recent appointment of Mr. Matthew J. Howorth, LLB, to the position of Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Howorth has spent the past decade practicing corporate commercial law with a national law firm, has extensive experience in the mining industry, and plays an integral role as chief legal counsel to the company.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” or “continue” or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Certain of the statements made herein, including any information as to the future activities of and developments related to the business activities of Northgate Minerals Corporation (Northgate) and its subsidiaries, the market position, and future financial or operating performance of Northgate, are forward-looking and subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the corporation’s ability to control or predict. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: gold price volatility; impact of any hedging activities, including margin limits and margin calls; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated reserves and resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of construction and the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities and permitting time lines; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in any of the countries in which the corporation does or may carry out business in the future; risks of sovereign investment; the speculative nature of gold exploration, development and mining, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits; dilution; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements; and defective title to mineral claims or property. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks), as well as the factors described or referred to in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Northgate’s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2007 or under the heading “Risks and Uncertainties” in Northgate’s 2007 Annual Report, both of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and which should be reviewed in conjunction with this document. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The corporation does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except in each case as required by law.

SOURCE Northgate Minerals Corporation