Amsterdam, July 18, 2012 – Nord Gold N.V. (“Nordgold” or the “Company”, LSE: NORD) is pleased to announce that it intends to make an offer to acquire the outstanding shares of High River Gold Mines Ltd. ("High River", TSX: HRG) not already owned by Nordgold and its affiliates. Nordgold currently owns 630,627,472 High River shares, constituting approximately 75 percent of High River.