Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER



PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a) OF
THE



SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934



I, Gregory A. Lang, certify that:



1. I have reviewed this Amendment No. 1 to the Annual Report on
Form 10-K/A of NOVAGOLD Resources Inc.;



2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;



3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;



4. The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are
responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant
and have:



(a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures,
or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
the period in which this report is being prepared;



(b) Designed such internal control over financial
reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;



(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s
disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and



(d) Disclosed in this report any change in the
registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and



5. The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have
disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors
and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):



(a) All significant deficiencies and material
weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and



(b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that
involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.







|                    |  | By: /s/ Gregory A. Lang              
|------------------- |  | -------------------------------------
|                    |  | Gregory A. Lang                      
|Date: June 25, 2019 |  | President and Chief Executive Officer