Vista Gold's 2024 Drilling Program Yields High-Grade Gold Intercepts

Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE American and TSX: VGZ) has completed its 2024 drilling program at the Mt Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia, with the final results revealing numerous high-grade gold intercepts. The program, which aimed to efficiently position Mt Todd as a top-tier gold development project, has successfully extended the core zone and mineralized boundaries in the northern section of the Batman deposit.



The final four holes of Phase 2 drilling, announced in the coming weeks, are expected to further enhance the overall gold inventory at Mt Todd. These results, along with the comprehensive overview of the 2024 drilling program, will be incorporated into the updated Mt Todd mineral resource estimate in conjunction with the in-progress Mt Todd feasibility study.

One of the highlights of the program is the numerous high-grade gold intercepts encountered in Phase 2. For instance, hole VB24-032 returned multiple mineralized intervals, including 3.0 meters at 4.13 grams of gold per tonne ("g Au/t") from 121.1 meters downhole, including 0.6 meters at 18.34 g Au/t from 123.5 meters downhole. Additionally, hole VB24-033, drilled in hanging wall structures adjacent to the Batman deposit, returned multiple mineralized intervals, including 43.3 meters at 0.82 g Au/t from 109.0 meters downhole, including 1.0 meters at 7.55 g Au/t from 134.0 meters downhole.

These high-grade intercepts, along with other results from the 2024 drilling program, are expected to benefit the update to the Mt Todd mineral resource estimate, which will be completed in conjunction with the in-progress Mt Todd feasibility study. The Company plans to provide an overview of the 2024 drilling program in the coming weeks.

Concurrent with the 2024 drilling program, management undertook a series of internal assessments and trade-off studies in advance of initiating a feasibility study for an alternative development plan at Mt Todd. Key studies evaluated the economic potential for a range of processing and mining rates. Based on the results of this work, Vista launched a new Mt Todd feasibility study in December 2024 that aims to increase the reserve grade to 1 gram gold per tonne using a higher cut-off grade and reduce the initial capex by 60% to $400 million while achieving average annual gold production ranging from 150,000 to 200,000 ounces from 15,000 tonnes per day ore throughput. The consultants selected for this study have extensive Australian and international experience with projects of this scale who we believe can deliver a fit-for-purpose design that achieves the targets we have established. Completion of this feasibility study is expected mid-2025.

In conclusion, Vista Gold's 2024 drilling program has yielded high-grade gold intercepts that are expected to favorably impact the overall gold inventory at Mt Todd. The alternative development plan for Mt Todd, with its potential to increase the reserve grade, reduce initial capex, and maintain meaningful annual gold production, has the potential to deliver attractive economic returns and represents a paradigm shift in the value potential of the project.