Vista Gold Corp. announced the positive results of an updated preliminary feasibility study (the PFS) for its Mt Todd gold project (Mt Todd or the Project) in Northern Territory, Australia. The PFS is based on the results of a comprehensive review of all aspects of the Project and the re-design of elements of the process flow sheet, incorporating automated sorting and grinding circuit design changes in a 50,000 tonne per day (tpd) project. The process improvement efforts have resulted in reduced operating costs, increased gold recovery and higher gold production at Mt Todd. Management of Vista believes that the design changes have allowed Vista to achieve a significant improvement in the Projects economics at the current gold price. Operating Costs: The Project includes a 70MW power plant in the initial capital. Power is anticipated to be generated by gas-fired reciprocating engines (nominal 10MW capacity). The Project consumes all power generated during the operating life. Self-generated power creates significant savings in operating costs compared to a grid-sourced power solution. During the four years of reclamation and closure, the PFS assumes Vista will continue generating power and will sell 20MW of power into the Northern Territory electrical grid, for which there is a known market and indicative purchase rates have been provided by the government-owned utility. Mining and Production: The mine plan contains 207.7 million tonnes of ore mined from the Batman open pit plus 13.4 million tonnes of ore from the existing heap leach pad that is processed through the mill at the end of the mine life. The mine plan contemplates that together, 221.0 million tonnes of ore containing 5.848 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.82 g Au/t are to be processed over the 13-year operating life of the Project. Total gold recovered is expected to be 4.956 million ounces. Average annual gold production over the life of the Project is expected to be 382,211 ounces, averaging 479,450 ounces during the first five years of operations, with 582,032 ounces produced in the first year of operations. Commercial production is anticipated to begin after two years of construction and commissioning. Vista’s metallurgic test work programs support: ore hardness estimates at the Batman deposit that are consistent and do not change at depth; the selection of HPGR, automated sorting and 2-stage grinding technologies as part of the comminution circuit; estimated gold recovery rates based on optimized grind size and leach conditions; and the processing of material from the historic heap leach pad at the end of the proposed mine life. Significant improvements to the Project have been achieved through design changes in the comminution circuit. Vista plans to screen the HPGR crusher product at 16 mm (5/8”) and use automated sorting technology (both x-ray transmission and laser) to remove the material that is sub-economic. Testing indicates that approximately 10% of the run-of-mine plant feed can be eliminated with only a 1.3% gold loss using automated sorting. The excess capacity in the HPGR circuit will be employed to create a final product that is nominally 3.5 mm (1/8”) or, approximately 50% smaller than previously planned. This material will be wet screened and then classified to provide feed to the redesigned primary and secondary grinding circuits. The Company has selected smaller, more energy efficient ball mills for the primary grinding circuit and horizontal IsaMills for the secondary grinding circuit. Together, these mills are expected to efficiently produce a final product that is nominally 60 microns in size (a 33% reduction from previous studies). Leaching tests conducted at this finer grind size indicated that an overall gold recovery of 86.4% (net of solution losses) can be expected, a significant improvement from the previous 81.7% recovery. This results in a 4.1% increase in total gold production (net of sorting losses). The robust comminution circuit is designed to process material with an average bond-work index 5% in excess of actual rock hardness based on the test work completed. Gold will be recovered through a traditional CIP circuit. Recovery rates are based on the results of 41 tests recently completed at present design conditions in addition to the tests completed in 2013. Because the Project was an operating mine, infrastructure exists that reduces initial capital expenditure and significantly reduces capital risk related to infrastructure construction, which has been a major source of capital overruns in the mining industry over the last decade. Existing mining infrastructure items include: an existing tailings storage facility that will receive two raises and is expected to contain 62 million tonnes of material processed; an existing fresh water storage reservoir that will receive a two-meter dam raise and will harvest stormwater sufficient to provide process water for year-round operations; a natural gas pipeline at site that can supply sufficient natural gas to meet the Project’s energy requirements and would save considerably on project operating costs compared to grid-supplied power; a paved road to site; current electrical connection to the Northern Territory electric grid; and process plant location has been cleared and graded, resulting in reduced earthworks costs due to the process plant location being the same as the previous process plant. Other benefits of Mt Todd’s Northern Territory location include: the Stuart highway – the main North /South highway in the Northern Territory is less than 15 km from the project site; rail line parallel to the Stuart highway; and the regional center of Katherine (population approximately 12,000) less than 60km from site and the Territory capital of Darwin less than 300km from site, which has port access. Vista continues to work with the communities of Katherine and Pine Creek to develop a community-based project as opposed to the more typical fly-in, fly-out project, which is generally more expensive and limits the economic benefits of projects to local communities.