Northgate Intersects 8.92 g/tonne Gold Over 218.5 Feet

[Silvestor]

Northgate Intersects 8.92 g/tonne Gold Over 218.5 Feet at Young-Davidson

VANCOUVER, May 25, 2006 – Northgate Minerals Corporation ( TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) today announced that diamond drilling at its Young-Davidson property near the town of Matachewan, Ontario continues to intersect significant gold mineralization. Assay results from six additional drill holes are reported herein.

Drilling Highlights

* Hole YD06-1B, returned three gold bearing intervals, 33.49 g/tonne over 32.5 ft and 16.45 g/tonne over 20 ft both within a larger zone grading 8.92 g/tonne Au over 218.5 ft. Drill hole YD06-01B is the second best hole ever drilled on the property by any operator.


* Hole YD06-09, the second deepest hole ever on the property, intersected an extension of the Lower Boundary Zone 300 feet east and 250 ft below YD06-01B and returned 8.28 g/tonne Au over 52 ft within a broader zone of 4.49 g/tonne over 102.7 feet.


* Confirmation hole YD06-06, drilled to test the Upper Boundary Zone in the vicinity of historical intersections, returned 3.47 g/tonne over 105 ft and 5.33 g/tonne over 46.5 ft both within a zone grading 2.63 g/tonne over 199 ft. These results are consistent with the historic results.


* Four drills are presently active on the property. Two drills are testing the Lower Boundary Zone, one drill has just started the first hole testing the Lower YD Zone and a smaller fourth drill is testing the Lucky Zone.


http://www.northgateexploration.ca/frame_press_release.html

[Silvestor]

Northgate Repurchases 24,000 Ounces of Its Gold Hedge Book;
Settlement Reached in Jamestown Litigation

VANCOUVER, May 31, 2006 –Northgate Minerals Corporation ( TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) today announced that during the month of May 2006, it continued to reduce the size of its gold hedge book by repurchasing 24,000 ounces of its gold forward sales position at a cost of approximately US$8.34 million. The cost of closing out these forward contracts in advance of their original settlement dates will be deferred and amortized over the period that the contracts were originally scheduled to settle (June 2006 - September 2006). Northgate now has only 90,000 ounces of gold forward sales contracts remaining at a forward price of $307 per ounce and this position represents only 2.5% of the total proven and probable reserves within the Kemess camp.

In an unrelated event, Northgate is pleased to announce that it has reached a settlement with plaintiffs, the Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Central Valley Region of California and the California Attorney General, and all other defendants named in a lawsuit alleging environmental violations in connection with an inactive gold mine located in Tuolumne County, California, known as the Jamestown Mine. The settlement has been signed by all parties and became effective on May 12, 2006. Under the terms of the settlement, Northgate will pay the State of California US$5 million by June 12, 2006. Effective upon receipt of the settlement payment by the State, Northgate will be released from all known and unknown claims related to the Jamestown Mine, and the State of California will dismiss Northgate from the lawsuit with prejudice, thus bringing the matter to a close.