Vista Gold at Emerging Growth Conference 85: Strategic Shift in Mt Todd Project

On Thursday, 21 August 2025, Vista Gold Corporation (NYSE:VGZ) presented at the Emerging Growth Conference 85, unveiling a strategic pivot in the development of its Mt Todd Gold Project. The company announced a significant reduction in project scale, aiming to lower initial capital costs while optimizing operational efficiency. This move is intended to attract investment and reduce risk, though it also presents challenges in scaling production.

Key Takeaways

• Vista Gold announced a new feasibility study for the Mt Todd project, reducing the scale from 50,000 to 15,000 tons per day, cutting initial capital costs by 59%.
• The project is expected to produce 153,000 ounces of gold annually, with a 30-year mine life and a reserve grade increase to 1.04 grams per ton.
• Financial projections at a $2,500 gold price show a net present value (NPV) of $1.1 billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 27.8%.
• Vista Gold is exploring joint ventures, project-level transactions, and self-financing to advance the project.
• The company maintains a cash balance of $13.2 million with a quarterly burn rate of $1.5 million to $1.7 million.

Financial Results

• Initial Capital Investment: $425 million
• NPV at $2,500 gold: $1.1 billion; at $3,300 gold: $2.2 billion
• IRR at $2,500 gold: 27.8%; at $3,300 gold: ~45%
• All-in Sustaining Costs for the first 15 years: ~$1,450 per ounce
• Life of Mine Free Cash Flow at $2,500 gold: ~$2.5 billion; at $3,300 gold: ~$4.5 billion

Operational Updates

• Shift to a smaller-scale 15,000 tons per day operation with contract mining and a fly-in/fly-out workforce strategy.
• Adoption of Australian-based consultants and engineers for project design and execution.
• Ongoing discussions with government agencies to modify permits, with an expected timeline of 12-18 months for completion.
• Production is anticipated to reach approximately 180,000 ounces annually in the initial years, with stockpiling of low-grade material for future processing.

Future Outlook

• Vista Gold is actively seeking partners or exploring self-financing options to advance the Mt Todd project.
• The company is increasing market awareness through conferences and site visits, with several confidentiality agreements in place.
• The timeline for engineering to commissioning is estimated at 27 months, with expansion decisions contingent on market conditions post-production.

Q&A Highlights

• Vista Gold holds necessary water rights, utilizing a freshwater storage reservoir.
• Wheaton is expected to play a crucial role in financing through a streaming agreement.
• Expansion decisions will be evaluated post-production, with potential to increase capacity significantly.

Readers are encouraged to refer to the full transcript for a more detailed account of the conference call.

Full transcript - Emerging Growth Conference 85:

Operator: And welcome back, everyone. Next, we have Vista Gold Corp trades on the New York Stock Exchange American under the symbol VGZ and on the TSX under the symbol VGZ. It holds the Mt Todd Gold Project, an advanced development stage gold deposit located in the low risk tier one mining friendly jurisdiction of Northern Territory Australia. Happy to welcome its CEO, Fred Ernst. Nice to see you again, Fred.

Welcome to the conference. The floor is yours.

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: Good morning. Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be back. There’s been, a lot of, exciting things happened since, our our last opportunity to appear on the conference. This morning, I will be making some forward looking statements, but let’s just let’s just jump into things.

Since we, since we had the opportunity to present last, we’ve, made some very significant announcements, and I’m, very excited about those, announcements. In fact, the study that we announced, at the July represents a paradigm shift in the development strategy for Mt Todd. Previously, we have looked at Mt Todd as a, a very large scale, 50,000 ton per day operation given the size of the deposit. But at the July, we announced the results of feasibility study for a much smaller scale project, looking at 15,000 tons per day. This comes with some very distinct advantages for us, one being a 59% reduction in initial capital.

We’ve taken steps with cutoff grade to prioritize grade over tons, and that has resulted in an increase in the average grade of the deposit. We’ve adopted contract mining. We have achieved a very constant and consistent annual gold production over the profile of the project. We’ve designed the project using a fit for purpose design basis. And, we’ve adopted some Australian principles with regards to, sourcing the workforce, and we’ll have a more significant fly in, fly out workforce.

These are these are the changes, and, let me just, jump to what this translates to as far as results. I mentioned, raising the cutoff grade that’s allowed us to achieve a, an average reserve grade over the first fifteen years of the project. And bear in mind at a smaller scale that the life of the project has increased from sixteen years to thirty years life of the mine now. The first fifteen years, we now have a a an average grade of the reserves material that we mined of one point o four grams per ton. That’s, up from 0.77.

Average production, over that that same period of time will be a 153,000 ounces of gold per year, and the initial capital investment is now estimated to be $425,000,000. The study reports a total resource of 10,600,000 ounces with a reserve of 5,200,000 ounces of proven and probable reserves. We used a $2,500 gold price to in our analysis for project economics. And at that gold price, the net present value at a 5% discount rate is estimated to be USD 1,100,000,000.0, with a 27.8% internal rate of return. Now if we use something closer to the spot price, and we’ve done the numbers at a $3,300 gold price, that NPV increases to $2,200,000,000 and the IRR increases to just shy of 45%.

The all in sustaining costs are estimated to be just shy of, $14.50 dollars We’re really excited, about these numbers and what this means for project. And it really, as I mentioned, represents a shift in the way we think about the project. Some of the things that, we’ve done, just kinda going back and and putting a little bit more more meat around the that initial introduction. The project is, is designed as an Australian project, and that may sound funny for people to hear. But, previously, we designed this project as a very large project using design criteria, that would be very consistent with what the likes of a Newmont, a Barrick, a Newcrest, Goldcorp, those kinds of companies might use, and and that’s the the audience that we’re trying to appeal to.

We’ve we’ve now redesigned the project using almost entirely Australian based or Australian experienced consultants and engineers. And our lead engineer, GRES, has significant experience in designing, building, and delivering gold projects of this scale in in Western Australia. We think that by changing to 15,000 tons per day that we have rightsized the project. This is a this is a very common size for mines in in the Western Part of Australia to start out as, and, it’s something that, the the equipment is ready readily available. People are familiar with the the the style of operation.

And and by changing the scope, you know, doing things the way Australian mining companies do them, I think that we’ve made this project, more attractive. For example, the the use of contract mining is one. Using a sourcing a a workforce that we estimate that in the early years, 90% of our workforce will be fly in, fly out. We’ll have a permanent camp on-site. We obviously are very pleased with the reduction in CapEx.

The cost that it takes to build the project is a very important factor in having achieved a 59 reduction in initial CapEx and at the same time achieving a 23% increase in grade are very significant accomplishments. We maintain and have been able to sustain the leverage to the gold price that we’ve enjoyed with past studies. And you saw that in the differences between the NPV and IRR going from $2,500 to $3,300 In designing a project that is an initially smaller scale project, we have retained the opportunity for expansion. And I think this is a very important point. While we’ve designed the project at 1,500 tons or 15,000 tons per day, We have left the space in the layouts and in the general arrangement drawings to be able to expand the project.

And we believe that, that will happen at some point and that it will be driven by market conditions. Today, I don’t know if that will be a a a 50% expansion, whether there it’ll be a doubling to to 30,000 tons a day, but we’ve allowed the space for that happen. We, certainly believe that, that this demonstrates the optionality that we have. By combining all of this, we believe that we’ve lowered the risk profile of the Mt Todd project. Now the results of the study, the slide deck has a lot of information.

I’m not going to read this table to everyone, but I think that maybe some of the highlights are that over the first fifteen years of the life of the project, the average production will be 153,000 ounces of gold per year. We’ll produce just shy of 2,300,000 ounces of gold at an all in sustaining cost of, let’s just call it, 50 an ounce. Life of mine, that that number goes up a little bit. That goes up to $1,500 an ounce. Those are still very, very solid and very competitive all in sustaining cost numbers.

Because of the decision to raise the cutoff grade, the stripping ratio has gone up. It’s now just a little bit over four to one. And part of that’s because we’re going to be stockpiling approximately 70,000,000 tons of low grade material between zero point three five and zero point five gram per ton, in the corner of the waste rock dump, where it could be recovered at some future time should economics favor, the recovery of, of that material. The payback for the project that that and these are numbers are at $2,500 an ounce. The payback is two point seven years.

If we look at $3,300, the payback period is is one point seven years. So there’s some there’s some very exciting numbers in in the results. Kinda stepping back, you know, I’m kinda excited, jumped into the into the results of the study. For those who may not be familiar with where the project is located, on this slide, you see a map that shows that it’s located in the very northern part of Northern Australia, of the Northern Territory. Locally, that’s referred to as the top end of Australia.

The project is located about thirty minutes north of Catherine and about two fifty kilometers Southeast of Darwin, and Darwin being the capital of the Northern Territory Territory and a port city. We have very, very good access. The project is just 10 kilometers off the Stuart Highway, which is the main thoroughfare through the territory. We have paved roads to the site. And I think that one of the things that we’re most excited about is just the outstanding team of people that we were able to put together to complete this study.

I talked about in GR Engineering Services. They’re our study author and our process engineers. And they’re the group that specifically has experience in building plants, of similar size to Mount Todd in Western Australia and delivering them on time and on budget. And so we’ve been able to leverage off of their extensive experience, their cost database, and I feel very comfortable that the costs that are estimated in our capital costs are achievable and very realistic today. Mining Plus, another Australian company has done all of our mine planning.

They did prepared the mineral reserve estimate. Tetra Tech out of Colorado has continued to do our resource estimation and and water management work, and they’ve been working on the project since 02/2006. And so we’re happy to have them part of the team. Tiara Group International has international experience designing tailings storage facilities, and and there have been a tremendous add to the the project. And and then, there’s the third party contractors, and we’re under confidentiality.

I can’t disclose names, but if I were, you would recognize both the contractor that we’ve worked with on designing the power plant, which would be owned and operated by a contractor, as well as the contract miner. And this is this these are these are names. These are people who this is what their business is, and they do this day in, day out, in Australia. One of the the key elements of of any project is is permitting and authorizations and licenses, and people will recall that we have all of the authorizations for to start a 50,000 ton per day operation. There will be some modifications to those authorizations required as part of a 15,000 ton per day operation.

We’ve already commenced discussions with the government permitting agencies. And I estimate that while the process won’t be difficult or arduous that realistically, we’re expecting that to have all of those authorizations tidied up and changed over to a smaller operation. We’re probably looking at something in in the range of twelve to eighteen months from today. So the study, the the mining engineers have done an exceptional job with, mine planning and scheduling. We’ve been able to smooth out the production profile from what we had previously.

Those who know Mt. Todd will recall that in the previous studies that starting in year six and continuing through year nine, we had a significant drop in production. We’ve been able at the smaller throughput rate, we’ve been able to smooth that out. We continue to have a strategy of trying to really attack the high grade material that we can get to in the early years of the life. And you see that in this chart that we’re able to produce close to 180,000 ounces of gold per year over the first three years of the operation.

And then things settle in right about 150,000 ounces and remain there until year 2019. And so we’re very, very happy about that production profile. I talked a little bit about the all in sustaining cost. And the you see here two gold bars. This is comparing ourselves to our Australian peers, the operating mines in Australia and where we stack up.

You see that the previous feasibility study at a very large scale was projected to be in 2024, one of the lower all in sustaining cost operations. When we go to a smaller scale, obviously, we lose some economies of scale bringing in contract mining that adds costs. But you see there in the middle of the pack, in the middle of the slide that we’re very solidly positioned with regards to our all in sustaining costs, that the costs that have been estimated by GRES and Mining Plus place us just about in the middle of the pack with regards to our all in sustaining costs. And this is very significant because a lot of people look at Mt Todd and they say, you have a hard ore body, and that’s true. But it speaks to the efficiency of the process plant and the work that’s been done to achieve the most optimum and most efficient operation that we can given the size of the operation.

So I’m very happy with the our all in sustaining costs of roughly $14.50 dollars an ounce for the first fifteen years of the project. Now this next slide it just kind of gives you an idea of the the after tax cash flows. You see and and and what you see there is the differences between what it would be at the steady level, which is the solid blue line cumulatively speaking and then the gold bars, and what it would look like at a $3,300 gold price. And and what you see on this slide is is, again, a manifestation of the leverage that we enjoy. At a $2,500 gold price, the life of mine free cash flow is almost 2,500,000,000 And when we look at it at a $3,300 gold price, that number pushes up to almost $4,500,000,000 And so the project is very robust.

It generates cash flow. It pays back the debt very quickly, the initial investment. And I think that, that again, that speaks very highly to the quality of the estimates and the deposit itself. You note that we do have a a little bit of a dip here in year ’20. That’s two things are happening.

One, that’s the year that we have to build the second tailings storage facility. And, also, we have a little bit of additional stripping in in that year. But if we look at it on a on a an investment in year ’19 to achieve very significant cash flow in years ’26 and ’27, it pencils out that it has, an 81% internal rate of return on that investment in year 2019. So we’re not disturbed by that at all. If we look at the sensitivity to gold price, and this is we’ve kind of already talked about these numbers with regards to what are the changes from $2,500 to $3,300 But you’re putting in a little different perspective.

You get an idea of the leverage again that we enjoy to the gold price. We’ve, we’ve showed at a lower end, twenty one hundred dollar gold price. I don’t think the gold price is going anywhere close to that. And I think that there’s, there’s plenty of upside. Because the relationship is almost linear, you can you can project the numbers upwards from, the $3,300 gold price.

So what’s the, what’s the investment opportunity? What do what do we hope to accomplish with this? You see on this chart a comparison of the Mt Todd project and Vista Gold on a market cap and size of reserve and annual production rate basis. And what you see here is that the Mt Todd project as it’s designed, and we’re and obviously, we’re comparing ourselves to peers that are have production of less than 200,000 ounces of gold per year. But but what you see is that with the transition to becoming a producer and at 15,000 tons per day, that’s a much easier step than it was previously, that there’s a tremendous opportunity for a rerating in the value of the company.

You know, just looking at, you know, modest valuations, comparing ourselves to Bellevue or or Catalyst, you know, there’s the opportunity to see a, an increase of seven or eight times. And if we if we’re successful and garner the attention of the likes of Capricorn, we could see something that’s more in the range of of 15 or 20 times. And so there’s a tremendous opportunity here. So how do we advance this? And this is this, I think, is the crux of, what we’ve laid the groundwork for And that I believe that our feasibility study has has laid the basis for, a responsible path forward in advancing what truly is one of Australia’s largest gold projects.

I I pointed out earlier that it’s designed as an Australian project. We’ve used Australian engineers. We’ve adopted Australian development philosophies. 15,000 tonnes per day is is, I think, is the right size, and and and it’s rewarded us with a significant reduction in the initial capital. It’s also the right scope using contractors and and and other strategies for developing and operating.

It’s a, it’s a very attractive option. You know, we we struggled a little bit in the past with the perception that the the the project is low grade. And And certainly, one gram per ton seems to be a magic number, and I’m pleased that we have a reserve that’s over and above that. I kind of smile when I say that because there’s there’s a number of very large gold projects that are producing a lot of gold. Boddington, the Detour Lake project, both have grades that are less than a gram per ton.

But we’ve achieved a target or a reserve that allows us to operate steadily at a reserve grade that’s greater than a gram and with very steady production over the first half of the project. We’ve already talked about the leverage to gold price and the economics, and I’m not gonna beat on those, but opportunity for expansion. But I think the point here is that this study opens the doors to various development alternatives. Obviously, one is, you know, our our path of finding a a joint venture partner. And there’s a number of a number of Australian gold producers who have taken notice of Mount Todd in the last thirty days and and are interested and have signed confidentiality agreements.

Another is that simply we recognize that a project of this scale and the size and the and the economics that there’s companies that may not want to be a development partner, but find the the the project very appealing and attractive and a and a good fit for their their portfolio. And and if that means engaging in a transaction at the project level or at a corporate level, those are options that will be taken seriously and evaluated as well. And then last, there’s the option that at this CapEx, that financing and building the team to build Mt. Todd ourselves is much more of a viable option today than it was previously. We’re presently evaluating the best pathway forward.

We’re concentrated. I spent a week in Australia, part of that at Diggers and Dealers. We are focused on increasing the broad market understanding of the Mt Todd gold project at this scale. And as I indicated, we’re signing confidentiality agreements, and that will lead to site visits. And we believe that ultimately, this is going to result in some options on how we advance the project and how we realize value for our shareholders.

That’s the path forward. That’s what we’re working on right now. There’s a number of conferences coming up in the next month that we’ll be at here in Colorado. We’re excited about the the story that we have. We’re excited about the status of the project.

And I believe that we’re on a path to to realistically end up in in within the next year on a pathway that will lead to significant value creation for our shareholders. With that, I’m going to turn that I’m going to open the floor for questions and be happy to respond to any questions that participants may have.

Operator: Thank you, Fred. Yes, quite a few questions for you. Esther asks, does Vista Gold own the water rights?

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: The water rights have already been granted to us. We’re We don’t have wells for the project, rather we have a freshwater storage reservoir. And we capture water during the wet season and store it. And we have the authorizations that we need to use all of the water needed for the project.

Operator: And can you speak to your company’s current burn rate and how much runway you have with existing capital?

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: Yes, we have we finished the second quarter with $13,200,000 cash in the bank. Our burn rate and obviously third quarter will be a little bit higher than this because we’re finishing the feasibility study and there’ll be some expenses there. But our burn rate is somewhere between 1.5 and $1,700,000 a quarter. So we’ve got almost two years worth of cash at present consumption rates.

Operator: And is Wheaton looking to increase their investment in Mt Todd? Do they have the option to do that?

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: Well, certainly, Wheaton’s real business is streaming. It’s not royalties. And the reason that they engaged in a royalty agreement with Vista was to get their foot in the door and have the first right of refusal on any financing that might come as a result of streaming. We believe that Wheaton will be an integral part of financing for the Mt Todd project. So ultimately, that decision is theirs and ours to make jointly, but I believe that they will be an integral part of that package.

Operator: Great. And if you can explain this again briefly, timing on any expansion, what has to happen first production and just a little timeline for production?

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: Yes. So our engineers estimate that the timeline from the start of engineering through commissioning is twenty seven months. And this is coming from GRES, like I said, a company who has significant experience in in designing, building, and and delivering operating projects. The with regards to expansion, that’s a question that will really or a decision that will be made after the project is in operation. And it will depend on market conditions, and it could be that those discussions happen very early.

It could be that it’s a number of years down the path before a decision is made about expansion. And whether that expansion would be you know, a 50% expansion going from 15,000 to 22,500 tons a day, whether it goes to 30,000 tons a day, or whether once it’s demonstrated that Mount Todd can successfully process the ore in the deposit, somebody makes the decision to expand it to 50,000 tons a day. All this is the optionality that’s on the table, and all all options are open at this point.

Operator: And are you currently in active discussions regarding a sale, joint venture or strategic transaction? And what valuation metrics would you consider acceptable for shareholders given this new gold environment?

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: Well, this is an area that everybody wants an answer that I can’t really give. We’ve signed a number of confidentiality agreements. I have another several that are in the process of being negotiated. This is these things take time for people to complete their due diligence. As far as metrics that are available, the average investor, obviously, the feasibility study results will be a key metric and realizing that, unfortunately, we don’t get to sell the project for its full net present value, but they can begin to look at that and look at other transactions that are happening in the marketplace.

I will note that the full 40 three-one 101 and SK-thirteen 100 feasibility study reports will be out prior to the September 12, And people will be able to read that and digest that information and draw their own conclusion.

Operator: Perfect. Well, do you have any closing remarks for our viewers today, Fred?

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: Just that we’re really excited about the results of this feasibility study. It’s something that we started looking at eighteen months ago and trying to get our hands around what would a smaller project look like. Very pleased with the work that’s gone into this, the consultants, the extensive experience, reputations that they brought to the project, the economics are thrilling, the lower capital, initial capital investment is exactly what we needed for the project. And it’s a fun story to talk about. I really encourage people to take a closer look.

If you believe that the gold price is going to remain strong or increase, I think that Vista Gold should be in your portfolio. I think that this will be a very significant investment opportunity and a moneymaker for you, and we’re delighted to be able to have the opportunity to tell the story at this early stage. Thanks for having me on the show today.

Operator: Thank you, Fred. Thank you so much. And we appreciate your time. Hope to see you again real soon.

Fred Ernst, CEO, Vista Gold Corp: I look forward to it.

Operator: All right, everyone. We’ll be right back with our next presenter.

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