Vista Gold Announces Updated Mt Todd Preliminary Feasibility Study Showing Strong Returns At US$1300 Gold Price

DENVER, Jan. 24, 2018

Highlights of the updated PFS include:

• Estimated proven and probable reserves of 5.85 million ounces of gold (221.0 million tonnes at 0.82 g Au/t) at a cut-off grade of 0.40 g Au/t, a decrease of 0.9% from the Company's May 2013 PFS⁽¹⁾;
• Average annual production of 382,211 ounces of gold per year over the life of the Project, including average annual production of 479,450 ounces of gold per year during the first five years of operations;
• Life of mine average cash costs of $645 per ounce, including average cash costs of $571 per ounce during the first five years of operations;
• A 13 year operating life;
• Initial capital requirements of $839 million; and
• After-tax NPV_5% of $679.0 million and IRR of 20.5% at a $1,300 per ounce gold price with a $0.80:AUD1.00 exchange rate.

Vista's President and CEO, Frederick H. Earnest, commented, "In 2016, we began an effort to review all aspects of the Mt Todd development plan, focused on improving the economics of the Mt Todd gold project.  The results of this updated PFS demonstrate that Mt Todd is a robust project at today's gold price and foreign exchange rate.  We believe it is a world class project that enjoys long-standing government and community support.  As we announced earlier this week, we have received the last major environmental permit for the Project.  We believe this environmental authorization, together with the PFS results that we are announcing today provide a solid foundation for continued advancement of Mt Todd and an improved valuation for the Vista shareholder."

He added, "Through the comprehensive testing and design work completed over the past 18 months, we have significantly improved Mt Todd.  The incorporation of automated sorting technology enabled us to improve the grade and reduce the quantity of feed to the newly designed grinding circuit. By using the excess capacity in the high pressure grinding roll ("HPGR") crushing circuit, and changing to a more efficient 2-stage grinding circuit, we are able to economically grind to 60 microns and achieve an expected gold recovery of 86.4% (net of solution losses).  As a result, gold recovery is expected to increase 4.1% net of sorting losses.  The reduced feed to the grinding circuit and efficiencies in the design of the grinding circuit result in lower operating costs, in part due to a 6% reduction in required power.  The combination of increased gold recovery, higher gold production, and reduced power consumption, results in an economically robust, advanced stage gold development project with a 20.5% after-tax IRR at a $1,300 gold price."