Vista Gold Hits High-Grade Strikes in 2024 Drill Finale

Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE American and TSX: VGZ) today announced the final drill results for its 2024 drilling program at the Mt Todd gold project. These results further delineate the wider veins with high gold grade intercepts that are consistent with previous drill results in the South Cross Lode (the "SXL").

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250112330955/en/

Figure 1: Plan view of the Mt Todd terrain showing Phase 2 drill hole locations with respective orientation, highlighting the holes announced in this release. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Drilling Highlights

VB24-032 - Drilled in the SXL and 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
• 1.1 meters at 16.00 g Au/t from 142.9 meters downhole, including
  • 0.3 meters at 65.42 g Au/t from 142.9 meters downhole

VB24-033 - Drilled in hanging wall structures adjacent to the Batman deposit and 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

VB24-034 - Drilled in the SXL and returned multiple mineralized intervals, including

• 29.0 meters at 1.55 g Au/t from 156.0 meters downhole, including
  • 1.9 meters at 8.01 g Au/t from 172.1 meters downhole

Frederick H. Earnest, President and CEO, commented, "The holes announced today were an excellent way to finish our drilling in the South Cross Lode. We are most excited about the wider and higher-grade vein intercepts that we continued to encounter at depths beginning just 100 meters below surface. The Company plans to provide an overview of the 2024 drilling program in the coming weeks.

"These and prior drill holes in the South Cross Lode demonstrate the continuity of the mineralization along strike at relatively shallow depths. We expect this to benefit the update to our resource model and the reserve estimates that will be completed in conjunction with the in-progress Mt Todd feasibility study."

Drilling Assessment

The holes reported today concluded Phase 2 of the Company's 2024 drilling program at the Company's Mt Todd gold project located in Northern Territory, Australia. These last holes were located to provide specific information to support updating the mineral resource model and to delineate the limits of mineralization in the SXL. Based on these results, we believe that mineralization in the SXL remains open at depth and to the northeast. Hole VB24-033 was drilled to confirm the limits of hanging wall structures adjacent to the Batman deposit.

Holes VB24-031 and VB24-032 demonstrated consistent mineralization from near-surface depths through the end of the holes. Hole VB24-033 was positioned to intercept hanging wall structures to the Batman deposit at greater depths. These three holes were strategically positioned within the 2024 Feasibility Study (as defined below) mineral resources shell. Data from these holes provide a better understanding of the mineralization, structure, and the geological characteristics of the targeted mineralized zones.

Hole VB24-034 is located at the northeast extent of our drilling in the SXL. This hole showed encouraging high grades and featured multiple mineralized intervals, including 29.0 meters at 1.55 g Au/t from 156.0 meters downhole. Along with other nearby holes in the 2024 drilling program, this hole indicates that mineralization remains open at depth and to the northeast, trending towards other identified targets announced for the 2020-2022 drilling program.

Hole VB24-025 was extended to confirm the presence of veins intercepted by deeper holes in the vicinity. This extension successfully identified two additional mineralized intervals, with a notable 7.0 meters at 0.98 g Au/t from 192 meters downhole, including 0.4 meters at 12.56 g Au/t.

Table 1: Summary of Phase 2 drill holes VB24-031 through VB24-034 and extension of VB24-025 - highlighting intercepts greater than 5.0 g Au/t.

Notes:

QA/QC Protocols and Sampling Procedure

All sampling was conducted under the supervision of the Company's geologists and the chain of custody from Mt Todd facilities to the independent sample preparation facility at North Australian Laboratories Pty Ltd ("NAL") in Pine Creek, NT was continuously monitored.

• The core is marked, geologically logged, geotechnically logged, photographed, and sawn into halves using diamond saws. One-half is placed into pre-numbered sample bags as per industry standards with sample lengths between a minimum of 0.2 meters to a maximum of 1.2 meters. The other half of the core is retained for future reference by the Company. The only exception to this is when a portion of the remaining core has been flagged for use in metallurgical testwork.
• Following common industry practices, blanks and standards are also placed in plastic bags for inclusion in the shipment. A reference blank or a standard is inserted at a minimum ratio of 1 in 10 and additional blank samples are added at suspected high-grade intervals. Standard reference material is sourced from Ore Research & Exploration Pty Ltd and provided in 60-gram sealed packets. When a sequence of four samples is completed, they are placed in a shipping bag and tied closed. All of these samples are kept in a secure area on-site until crated for shipping.
• Vista employees ship and transport the samples to the NAL. At the lab, the samples are pulverized and split down to 50-gram assay samples prior to assaying. The industry-standard 3 assay-ton fire assay is followed by an atomic absorption (AA) finish.
• For the purposes of this release, mineralized intervals are defined as runs of mineralization with a maximum internal waste of 4.0 meters.
• NAL is independent of Vista.

It is the opinion of the QP (as defined below) that the sample preparation methods and quality control measures employed before the dispatch of samples to an analytical or testing laboratory ensured the validity and integrity of samples taken.

About Vista Gold Corp.

Vista holds the Mt Todd gold project, ready-to-build development-stage gold deposit located in the Tier-1 mining jurisdiction of Northern Territory, Australia. Vista is positioning Mt Todd as a leading development opportunity within the gold sector. Mt Todd offers significant scale, development optionality, growth opportunities, advanced local infrastructure, community support, and demonstrated economic feasibility. All major environmental and operating permits necessary to initiate development of Mt Todd are in place.

Vista's strategy is to advance Mt Todd in ways that efficiently position the project for development while exercising the discipline necessary to best realize value at the right time. Vista believes its strategy of advancing Mt Todd in this manner will deliver a more fully valued project to its shareholders.