NovaGold Resources (NG) said late Tuesday it plans a public offering of up to 43.5 million common shares.

The company expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 6.5 million shares.

Concurrently, NovaGold plans to complete a private placement of common shares to some of its major shareholders at the public offering price.

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering and the private placement to fund its acquisition of an additional 10% ownership interest in Donlin Gold and the remainder for general corporate purposes.

NovaGold shares were down 4% in recent premarket activity Wednesday.