Vista Gold at Emerging Growth: Strategic Reductions and Optimism

On Wednesday, 26 March 2025, Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE: VGZ) participated in the Emerging Growth Virtual Conference, where strategic updates were shared regarding the Mount Todd Gold Project. The company presented both positive advancements and financial strategies, alongside some challenges. Vista Gold is focusing on a significant reduction in initial capital expenditure while aiming for increased gold reserve grades.

Key Takeaways

• Vista Gold plans to reduce initial capital expenditure by 60% to $400 million for the Mount Todd Gold Project.
• The company targets increasing the reserve grade by 25% to one gram of gold per tonne.
• Vista Gold’s stock has risen 37% year-to-date.
• Rua Gold Inc. secured CAD 5.75 million in financing for its New Zealand exploration efforts.
• Both companies emphasize the importance of high-grade resources and favorable regulatory environments.

Financial Results

• Vista Gold has approximately 124.5 million shares issued and a market capitalization of $94 million.
• The company holds $16.9 million in cash with no outstanding debt.
• A new feasibility study aims to position the company for strategic transactions or self-development of the Mount Todd project.

Operational Updates

Vista Gold Corp.

• The Mount Todd Gold Project is located in Northern Territory, Australia, with existing infrastructure such as roads, a natural gas pipeline, and an electric grid connection.
• The project has a total resource of 9.4 million ounces of gold, with potential to add 1.8 to 3.5 million ounces.
• Vista Gold completed a successful drilling program last year, revealing thicker and higher-grade veins.

Rua Gold Inc.

• Focused on the Old Creek property in New Zealand’s Reefton gold field.
• Recent drill results include 2 grams of gold over 12 meters with 2% antimony.
• Infrastructure in Reefton supports mining activities with coal mines, power, and transportation facilities.

Future Outlook

Vista Gold Corp.

• The feasibility study is expected to attract interest from potential partners or investors.
• Vista Gold is open to joint ventures or developing the Mount Todd project independently if the market conditions are favorable.
• The construction timeline includes 12 months of preparation, followed by 18 months of construction and 6 months of ramp-up.

Rua Gold Inc.

• The company aims to develop high-grade, small-scale mines.
• Rua Gold’s management has experience in building and operating mines, positioning the company for independent development.

For a detailed understanding, readers are encouraged to refer to the full conference call transcript.

Full transcript - Emerging Growth Virtual Conference:

Anna: Fred Ernertz, the president and CEO of Vista Gold Corp. And Vista Gold holds the Mount Todd Gold Project, a permitted and ready to build development stage gold deposit located in the tier one mining jurisdiction of Northern Territory Australia. Welcome, Fred. Nice to see you again.

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Nice to see you too, Anna. Thank you.

Anna: So you presented to investors last September and have had a lot of positive news since then. So we’re very happy to have you back. But for those who might not be familiar with Vista Gold, let’s take a little time to go over a brief presentation and talk about important updates since we last spoke.

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Very, very well. I presume that everybody can see the slides now. I will be making a few forward looking statements, but certainly we’re delighted to be back. Vista Gold is traded on the NYSE American and the Toronto Stock Exchanges under the symbol VGZ. We have roughly 124,500,000.0 shares issued and outstanding market cap of about $94,000,000 And at the end of the year, we had $16,900,000 in cash with no debt.

Down at the bottom right, you see a list of our largest shareholders with Sun Valley Gold being our largest institutional holder. Board and management combined own about 4.2% of the shares of the company. As Anna indicated, we own and are building value based on the strengths of the Mt Todd Gold project. And as I’ll show you here in just a moment, this is a project located in the Northern Territory of, of Australia. It’s a project that’s permanent, ready to build, and enjoys the benefit of existing infrastructure.

We are building on the technical and financial strengths that have been demonstrated through feasibility studies that have been completed at a large development scale. Key drivers for this year, we last year completed a drilling program, and we expect growth in gold resources as a result of that program. But perhaps most importantly and most excitingly is the new feasibility study that’s focused on a smaller scale project, 15,000 tons per day versus 50,000 tons per day that was completed previously. This will generate significantly reduced initial capital. We’re prioritizing the reserve grade over over tonnage.

I’ll talk more about that. And at the same time, we’re preserving the option for for future expansion. Now if you look at the right side of the screen, you see that the project is located in what the Australians call the top end of Australia, the very northern part of, of Australia, about two fifty kilometers Southeast of Darwin, which is the capital of the Northern Territory. It’s very accessible. In fact, maybe one of the most easily accessible development stage projects in all of Australia.

Some of the highlights of, what we’re doing there with this new feasibility study are across the top of the slide. We’re, we’ve selected a size as indicated 15,000 tons a day or 5,200,000 tons per year. And, what the what the targets of this study is, I mentioned lower CapEx. We’re targeting an initial CapEx of $400,000,000 That’s a 60% reduction from our previous feasibility study at the large scale. We’re looking to raise the reserve grade.

We’re targeting one gram gold per tonne. That’s a 25% increase from our last feasibility study. As we mentioned, the throughput is coming down and that’s in part driving the reduction in the CapEx. The throughput is about a third of what the previous studies were. We’re targeting average annual production that will an estimate that will range between 150 to two that will an estimate that will range between 150,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold per year at this throughput.

And that’s, something on the order of 35% to 40% of our previous study. Now we’re the study is in progress. We’re making substantial progress. And based on my recent meetings with contractors, I feel comfortable saying that we’re essentially on on time and and to deliver the project as anticipated the the middle of this year. We believe that the creation or or the completion of this feasibility study will be the key to creating long term value for our shareholders.

It will provide a catalyst to attract a broad interest from those seeking permitted ready to build projects like Mt. Todd. It underpins our strategy for per share value appreciation by minimizing dilution and and managing risks. It demonstrates an achievable path for project development through, could be a a number of different options, a joint venture partnership, other form of strategic transaction, or advancing on a on a stand alone basis if the right market conditions exist. In in undertaking this feasibility study, we’re leveraging the technical work that’s been completed previously for the 50,000 ton per day case, And we’re adopting some principles like fit for purpose design.

It’ll continue to have a conventional flow sheet. We’ll be using contract mining and third party power generation as well as, established design construction practices that are that are common in Australia. One of the benefits of the Mount Todd project is that we have, it’s a brownfield site. And so we have an incredible amount of existing infrastructure. You see in the picture on the left, this is what the project area looks like at the present time.

We have paved roads all the way to the site that connect to the Stewart Highway, which runs from Darwin on the North to Adelaide on the South. There’s a natural gas pipeline, which we will use to generate our own power for the project. We’re already connected to the Northern Territory electric grid, and that will provide power for construction. We have, in the in the very back at the upper, kinda upper right, you see that freshwater storage reservoir. This will provide we capture rainwater, and this will provide water for the project.

We have the advantage of having a tailing storage facility that was built by the previous owners that will have capacity for about 90,000,000 tons. And obviously that reduces our initial upfront capital. And then the plant site, we’re gonna we’re gonna use the area of the previous plant site for the new plant. And that means that we’ll have considerably less civil works to undertake one once we start construction. Now, I think there’s an interesting phenomenon in the market that I think will help all of you watching this today understand what a tremendous opportunity Vista Gold is and the way that Mt.

Todd is positioned. Last September, S and P Global Intelligence published some research that talked about the number of major gold discoveries over the last thirty five years. And if we look at those by decades, from the period of time, the 1990s, there was 120, I’m sorry, 140 some deposits that were larger than 2,000,000 ounces that were discovered in that ten year period. In the next decade from February to 2010, that number dropped to approximately 120. In the period of time from 2010 to 2020, that number dropped to approximately 40 new discoveries of that size.

And since the start of this decade, in other words, starting in 2021, we’ve had five. What this says is that we as an industry are producing gold at a rate faster than we’re finding it. And so as mines deplete and they begin producing lower and lower grade material in order to sustain production, projects that have already been discovered that have been advanced through permitting become much more attractive, especially those like Mt. Todd that have demonstrated feasibility, lower risk because of location or jurisdiction like the Northern Territory. They offer a faster pathway to production as compared to a brand new discovery that will need a lot more drilling.

We envision that there will be renewed M and A activity. This will drive greater interest on the part of those who want to be partners or acquire projects like Mt. Todd. All of these things, we believe, bode very well for the future of Mt. Todd.

Now, you know, just briefly, we have tremendous exploration potential. The resources that we report 9,400,000 ounces total resource 7,880,000 ounces of measured and indicated are all located inside this this little red box in the middle of this map. And that’s the boundaries of our our mining tenements. That blue irregular shaped polygon outside of that is the boundaries of our exploration licenses, and that covers almost 1,600 square kilometers. And within that, our our exploration licenses cover, two structural corridors that are known to be a host to gold mineralization.

The southern one where the Batman deposit is is the Batman Grifield trend. The colon australis trend is northern and farther to the north. And and our geologists are continually undertaking grassroots exploration activities on this large land package and have identified a a number of targets. Prior drilling, specifically within the boundaries of the mining license, has identified four targets along the strike length of, the the the 24 kilometer Batman drift field trend that are projected to have the potential to add between one point eight and three point five million ounces. Last year, we drilled on the South Crossload, and I’m gonna turn to that in just a moment, which is one of the four target areas, and we had a very successful drilling program.

The slide we’re looking at here shows, just kind of the plan view of last year’s drill program. Phase one is the area off to the left here at the center where we were drilling in the northern part of the Batman Deposit, doing some infill drilling, testing limits of the mineralized structure, providing more, more definition to that part of the model. And we encountered, we drilled a number of holes that had grade where we didn’t anticipate it, higher grades than we expected. And so we’re very pleased with that. You see the, this kind of green colored arm sticking off to the Northeast.

This is the South cross slope, and this is a a con what we believe is a connector from the Batman deposit to a a line of of exploration targets as we go northeast in the, Batman drift field trend that is the connector, geologically between the the the structures. The interesting thing about the drilling in the, the South Crossroad is that, while we encountered mineralization that’s very similar to the Batman deposit, a sheeted vein style mineralization with very, very narrow veins and maybe 10 to 15 veins per meter, all of which have minor or small amounts of gold. This is very typical of the Batman deposit. In the deeper portions of these holes below 100 meters, in over half the holes, we encountered quartz veins with some sulfide mineralization that were much thicker than the millimeter to centimeter veins that we normally encounter, and they had much higher grade. For example, we had one hole that had a half a meter vein that was 50 grams per ton.

We had another hole that was a meter at almost 13 grams per ton I’m sorry, almost 26 grams per ton. Another hole had two meters of solid quartz veining that was almost 13 grams per ton. It’s very early and we’re very excited about what we’ve encountered, but I would be, I would have to be completely honest to say we don’t completely understand what we’ve encountered. And this could be the top of a bigger system that could be higher grade, something that could be mined from underground mining methods, and that would be very exciting for us. So the conclusions of the this of last year’s drilling program are we expect to add, add resources.

Given the fact that some of these resources are inside of the the pit shapes and you can see some outlines there on this slide, we expect that some of these resources will immediately convert into reserves and the new feasibility study. And so there are some very tangible benefits from the money that was spent on this drilling program. And we’ve perhaps scratched the surface on something that we may be very, very excited about in the future as more exploration is undertaken. So just to wrap this up so that we can kind of get back to a little bit of a more conversation on some of the important facts. Let me just summarize this that, you know, Mount Todd is a very large, high quality gold deposit in what we believe is one of the most mining friendly jurisdictions in in the world.

The the drivers for this year, the things that are gonna add value, obviously, as we complete the feasibility study and announce new resource estimate and and reserves, there will be benefits from last year’s drill program. The feasibility study itself, as I mentioned, is focused on a throughput, a scale of project that’s roughly a third of what we’ve evaluated previously. The initial CapEx is targeted to be $400,000,000 That’s a 60% reduction. The reserve grade, we’re prioritizing the grade. We’re gonna see a reduction in tons.

We’re gonna see a reduction in reserves from previous reserves. But we believe that having a 25% increase in grade will result in tremendous benefits for the project and ultimately our surfers. With these higher grades, we’re going to be able to sustain production in the range of 150,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold per year, even though we have much smaller throughput, we’re preserving the opportunity for future expansions. And that’s something that’s important to us. As we mentioned previously, this will be the design of this new plant will be what we typically refer to as fit for purpose with a very conventional flow sheet.

We’re going to use contract mining, third party power generation design and construction practices that are quite commonly used in Australia. I I think it’s important to note that Mount Todd is is permitted. It’s a ready to build development project in a in a great jurisdiction, and we enjoy being in a time and an environment of a strong gold market. And this idea of diminishing major gold discoveries, I think, is going to play to our advantage. So with that, I’m gonna stop the presentation and go back to a conversation with Anna.

Anna: Alright. Great, Fred. Let’s talk about, the new Mt. Todd feasibility study. It seems very exciting, and it might be the catalyst that the market’s been looking for.

So Mt. Todd, as it moves closer to development and ultimately into production with the feasibility study expected to be completed midyear, how do you think the results will be received by the market?

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: You know, it’s interesting. We’ve already received positive feedback regarding the the size of the project, the initial CapEx, the reserve grade, the expected production from from a number of different sources, both those who, you know, know the company quite well, investors and and others. But, I I believe the market is hungry for fresh ideas related to development of projects. And, I believe that the paradigm shift that’s represented in this study, thinking about something substantially smaller, will be, will be very well received. You know, we expect the lower CapEx and and the improved reserve grade to to resonate with many as we’re able to publish results, the middle of the year.

Anna: And it sounds like you’re actively pursuing these strategic transaction. It’s gonna maximize value for Vista shareholders. So please provide an update on your efforts to identify the right transaction. And do you believe companies may be sitting on the sidelines waiting for the results of the study to be published before maybe taking action?

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: You know, we we continue to work with, the Sydney, Australia office of CIBC Capital Markets to identify and engage with companies possessing the technical capacity, the financial strength to advance Mt. Todd, whether that’s through a joint venture, a project level transaction or even a corporate level transaction. In some instances, yes, I think that people are sitting on the sidelines waiting for the results of the feasibility study. But since the first of the year, we have signed a number of confidentiality agreements and there are companies who are advancing their due diligence of Mt. Todd.

And so I think that while we already have some people that have shown interest since the announcement of the the new feasibility study, I believe that we’ll see more interest once those results are announced.

Anna: And you also mentioned a variety of potential strategic transactions that could move Mt. Todd in construction and then production. So does this mean you would consider a corporate transaction and sale of Vista Gold? Would you consider building Mount Todd on your own?

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: You know, we we’re open to all options. I think it’s the simple answer. You know, we’re we’re we would consider a joint venture, a project level or corporate level transaction if it represents a recognition of the intrinsic value of Mt. Todd and creation of value for our shareholders. You know, we’re not interested in the transaction that gives away Mt.

Todd, but if there’s an opportunity to create value for our shareholders, we are keenly interested in that. With regards to building it ourselves, that’s an interesting question. The market is ever changing and evolving and we are always sensitive to dilution. But given given the right financing strategy, you know, timing, structure, cost, etcetera, and with the support of the market, with the support of our our largest shareholders, we would be prepared to undertake development of Mount Todd on a stand alone basis. But it would, it would be driven by support of the market and our ability to to complete the financing in a way that would preserve the the value, the upside for our shareholders.

Anna: And I suspect there are very few gold projects the size of Mount Todd that are permitted and ready to build. So regardless of the path as chosen to develop Mount Todd, what would you have to do to commence construction, and how long would construction take before pouring first gold?

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Yeah. Well, I I think you’re right. I think there are very few projects that are, of this scale that are that are fully permitted. You know from the point that say say the conclusion of the the this feasibility study and and a transaction or a decision being made that the project is going to advance the time frame basically looks like this we’re looking at twelve months to complete perhaps some additional testing and then detailed engineering and design. And at the conclusion of at the close of that period, there will be wrapping up and closing the financing arrangements.

And then we’re looking at an eighteen month construction period that would end in, you know, at the end of construction and commissioning, you’d see First Goldpour, but we’re anticipating that we’ll be looking at another six months of ramp up to commercial production. So from that point that the decision was made, we’d be looking at thirty months to potentially pouring the first gold, but we estimate thirty six months to the point that we would be in a position to declare commercial operations and and be achieving commercial production.

Anna: And last year, you successfully completed a drilling program totaling 6,776 meters and reported positive results in the program earlier this year. So what should investors understand about those drilling results and why should they be excited about the exploration potential of Mount Todd?

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Yeah. Well, like I like I said, you know, we, first of all, the, you know, the the drilling program, we expect it’s going to add resource ounces. And that’s that’s always important. You know, I mean, Mt. Todd is big, but it doesn’t hurt for it to be a little bit bigger, especially if those ounces are within the current pit shapes.

And so given that that’s the case, we expect some of the ounces that are added in resource will be converted to reserves. And that’ll be reflected in the new feasibility study. Second, as I was mentioning about the South cross load, as far as future exploration potential, I think that we’re on the cusp of a new exploration model for the Mount Todd Gold District. Having encountered these thicker and significantly higher grade veins in the deeper portions of these first set of holes, I think is very exciting. And as future drilling is undertaken to evaluate and build on the knowledge that we gained in twenty twenty twenty four.

I think there’s potential for a big shift in the way we view what kind of mineralization and what kind of development opportunities are in store for the District. So, you know, we’ve always said that Mount Todd with its almost 1,600 square kilometers of exploration licenses that there’s there’s bound to be several new additional gold deposits that are discovered overtime that will add to and and and build further credibility for the Mt. Todd Gold District. And and we’re we’re excited to have just scratched the surface on that.

Anna: And last question for you, Fred. Your stock has been performing quite well, and it’s up 37% for the year. So outperforming a number of your peers. So what do you see as the key drivers with this performance?

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Well, you know, I think the first thing that comes to everybody’s mind is gold price, and that benefits all of us, not just Vista Gold, but but our peers. In addition to that, I I think that, some of the key drivers and catalysts have been the the work that we’re doing to take a fresh look at Mt. Todd, and and the way that it might be developed. I think the the paradigm shift is stepping away from, you know, what what fourteen years of work at 50,000 tons a day and looking at 15,000 tons a day and a way to build a project and build a plant more efficiently and to derisk the project. You know, smaller is always less risky than bigger.

And so I think that, I think that these things have resonated with the market. The fact that we’re looking at a 60% reduction in CapEx, a, you know, and at the same time, we reduce that size. You know, we have 15% or or rather one third through throughput, but 35% to 40% of the gold production. I think that all of these things, the fresh look people are saying are viewing this as, you know, Vista is doing the right things to minimize risk, create value, and to move, move the Mount Todd project to a position where development is is likely, whether that’s through a joint venture transaction with another party or or we do it ourselves. I think that, I think the future is bright for Mount Todd, and I think that that’s a that’s a big catalyst.

Anna: Wonderful. Well, thank you for this great update. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Fred, we appreciate your time and presentation with us, and good luck.

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Thank you very much, Anna.

Anna: Alright, everyone. We’ll be right

Fred Ernertz, President and CEO, Vista Gold Corp.: Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Anna: Welcome back, everyone. We have an update from Rua Gold Inc, which trades on the OTCQB under the symbol NZAUF and on the TSXV under the symbol r u a. It’s an exploration company strategically focused on New Zealand. And with decades of experience, the team has successfully taken major discoveries into producing world class mines across multiple continents. Happy to welcome CEO Robert Eckford back to the conference today.

Welcome back, Robert. Tell us your update.

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: I will do. Thanks very much for having me again, Anna. I think we we last presented on the January 16, and it’s it’s never a dull moment at Rurogold. We’ve continued drilling down in in Reefton at our Old Creek property, and we’ve also completed a raise. So just as a quick quick touch on jurisdiction.

I mean, New Zealand keeps getting better and better. So since January 2016, and I encourage everyone to look at that presentation, we now have a critical minerals list for New Zealand, which was announced thirty one January. Gold was on that critical minerals list. Antimony is on that critical minerals list. Even met coal is on that minerals list.

We’re not after met coal, but it just speaks to New Zealand and what they’re doing and how they’re trying to reinvigorate their mining industry. So really great jurisdiction to be in. The fast track approvals bill as a reminder is a bill that now you can get a mining permit in New Zealand in six months time. That’s now in the law and there’s mining companies such as Oceanic Gold that are in that six month process. So when the rest of the world is finally waking up to the fast track process, New Zealand started at eighteen months ago and it’s in the legislation now and it’s in being acted upon.

So New Zealand, as a reminder, is the best jurisdiction in the world and that’s why we’re there and that’s why we’re looking for a high grade gold. The other notable update since we last talked is in February, we actually closed an oversubscribed financing for CAD 5,750,000.00. That sees us continue our aggressive exploration program all the way through the year. So we have two drills turning. We did that raise at market without any warrants.

Again, we’ve got really good supportive shareholders. Everyone is ready to write the next check into this deal. They all see the value proposition. And so we’re not a struggling explorer unable to find capital. So we’ve got money in the bank, we’ve got drills turning and we’ve got catalysts coming.

Just as a reminder, we’re in the South Island Of New Zealand is really where a lot of the action is at the moment. It’s in the reefed in gold field. It’s a past producing area. It already produced 2,000,000 ounces at grades of nine to 50 grams a tonne gold. So we’re talking really high grade gold here.

And the exploration results we’ve brought out exactly confirm that. We’re currently targeting an area called Old Creek. It’s It hasn’t had past workings on it, so all the drilling we’re doing is very shallow. We’re talking 150 meters deep. And we found two grams of gold over 12 meters, but 2% antimony.

And antimony is such an important critical mineral these days. The U. S. Has got it on their critical minerals list and they’re throwing money at trying to secure a supply of it. China control all the supply of antimony currently.

And so the Western world have woken up and they’re trying to get their own supply chain secured. And so we’re sitting on New Zealand’s antimony supply. So in a gold equivalent terms, our draw results that we put out in February after we presented to your audience was eight meters at 13.2 grams a ton equivalent and 12 meters of 12 grams equivalent. These are a really nice wide high grade intercepts. And I talk about the AU equivalent because that’s gold and antimony in there.

The nature of these deposits is a really high grade antimony top layer and then it gets richer gold as it goes down. And that’s where we expect to see the 20 to 30 gram a tonne gold results. So really, we’re here to remind your viewers, one, New Zealand just keeps getting better and better. Two, we’ve got money in the bank and we’ve got a team that’s executing with drills turning. And three, there’s a lot more drill results coming to the market and will continue to come to the market over the coming few months.

And so I’ll pause there and I’ll open it up to to any questions. It’s it’s a really tight update for me because I really wanna answer any questions people have.

Anna: Okay. Great. Yeah. We have a few questions. Morgan wants to know what results are upcoming and when are they expected?

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: So we’ve got five holes out of assay right now, and we’re to be we’d be expecting those within the next seven to ten days to come out to the market.

Anna: And Frank wants to know, are you fully permitted?

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: We’re fully permitted for our drilling, most certainly. We have a project on the North that for the sake of time, I haven’t gotten into it. It’s an earlier exploration play, and we’re going through the permitting process right now. But really, the catalyst that I see for shareholders is draw results from our fully permitted operations in the South Island.

Anna: And Chris wants to know, are you gonna develop on your own to go into production, or do you need a partner?

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: So the joy of having really high grade is is the CapEx for these things are closer to 1 or 2 or 300,000,000. They’re not the billion dollar projects that some people are used to because your plant size is smaller. Everything’s more manageable. Add to that, we’ve got a management team and board that have built eight mines in our past careers. This isn’t our first time building a gold mining company.

I’d encourage people to look at Rocks Gold’s chairman, Oliver Lennox King and director, Paul Criddle, both just came out of Rocks Gold and they built a high grade small mine in Burkina Faso. And they put that into production and they built another mine and put that into production. They sold the whole thing for over a billion dollars. So that’s really, the playbook here is small is beautiful. High grade is high margin, and that’s what we’re focused on.

And and we’ve got the depth to be able to build it ourselves.

Anna: And Brett wants to know a little bit about the infrastructure, the roads, the utilities.

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: That’s a that’s a really good question. Reefton is actually an active mining town. And if you look at this picture, you’ll see a a gray dot here of Globe Progress. That’s an old open pit mine. But also on the air foothold foothills of each of these mountains is active coal mines.

So we’ve already got active coal mines in this district. We’ve got an active mining community. It’s got high voltage power. It’s got highway. It’s got rail.

It’s got a port that’s less than a hundred kilometers away. So infrastructure is the furthest from our problem that we would ever have.

Anna: Perfect. Well, Robert, what closing remarks do you have for our viewers today?

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: I’d really encourage everyone to to take a look at New Zealand, and we are the leading explorer of New Zealand. We’ve got two amazing land packages, and we’re in a jurisdiction that not only wants us there, but the New Zealand mines minister, Shane Jones, was up in PDAC with me in Toronto in March. And we were presenting together about why New Zealand is such a good place to be. So in this world where you want safety and that’s why we go to gold, you want a good jurisdictional risk and that’s why we’re in New Zealand, and you want a management team that aren’t going to run off with your money and that’s why we’ve got this team together that have done this before multiple times and made shareholders a lot of money. And that’s why we can raise money.

So I think we tick a lot of the boxes. I’d encourage anyone to reach out should they want to. I’ll leave my details there, and I’m happy to have a follow-up call with with any interested investors.

Anna: Perfect. Well, thank you for this update. We look forward to continuing on with your journey. Appreciate you.

Robert Eckford, CEO, Rua Gold Inc: Thanks, Anna.

Anna: Alright, everyone. Stay with us. Hydrograph Clean Power had to postpone to our conference in April, so we’ll see them again very soon. But we do have Athlon Medical coming in at 03:25 eastern, so we’ll see you real soon.

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