Vista Gold Corp.

Hey ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Vista Gold's second quarter 2025 financial results and corporate update conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, participants are asked to press star 1 to register for a question. For assistance during the call, please press star 0 on your touchstone phone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Today is Wednesday, August 13, 2025. It's now a pleasure to introduce Pamela Solley, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Constantine, and good day, everyone. Thank you for joining the Vista Gold Corp. Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results and Corporate Update Conference Call. I'm Pamela Solley, Vice President of Investor Relations. On the call today is Fred Ernest, President and Chief Executive Officer of and Doug Tobler, Chief Financial Officer. On August 12, 2025, VISTA reported the cooperating of financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Copies of the news release and quarterly report on Form 10Q are available on our website at www.vistagold.com. During the course of this call and the question and answer session, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements of VISTA to be materially different from results, performance, or achievements expressly expressed or implied by such statements. Please refer to our most recently filed Form 10-Q for details of risks and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements and the cautionary note regarding estimates of mineral resources and mineral reserves. I will now turn the call over to Fred Ernest.

Thank you, Pam, and thank you everyone for joining us on the call today. During the second quarter, we advanced the 15,000 ton per day Mount Todd feasibility study and announced the results of the feasibility study on July 29th. We were very pleased with the strong economic results, the reduced initial capital, increased gold mineral reserves grade, and stable gold production over many years, as reported in this study. The feasibility study represents a major milestone for VISTA, highlighting a strategic shift toward a smaller initial scale with near-term development opportunity at Mt. Todd while preserving optionality for expansion. I'm pleased to report that we ended the quarter with a solid cash position, which Doug will discuss shortly. Additionally, we have now achieved 1,369 consecutive days without a lifetime accident at the Mt. Todd site. We are committed to prioritizing the efficient use of our cash and creating long-term value for our shareholders through disciplined execution of our strategy for the Mt. Todd Gold Project. I will discuss some of these topics in greater detail later in the call, but I will now turn the time over to Doug Tolbert, for a review of our financial results for the quarter ended June 30th, 2025. Okay, thanks, Fred.

I'll begin today's discussion with a summary of our results of operations for the three and six-month periods into June 30th, 2025, compared to the same periods in 2024. If you'd like additional details, our full financial statements and our MD&A are included in our Form 10-Q that we filed yesterday. For the three-month period, we reported a net loss of $2,356,000 for Q2 2025 compared to net income of $15,633,000 for Q2 of 2024. The net loss for the 2025 period was in line with our expectations. The change between the 2024 period and the 2025 period resulted mostly from the $16.9 million gain on grants of royalty interest that was recognized back in June of 2024 and an increase in exploration and property evaluation expenses during the 2025 quarter. The gain reflected payments received from Wheaton totaling $20 million net of the associated rental property carrying value of $3.1 million at the time. Higher exploration and property evaluation expenses resulted from VISTA having expensed $850,000 during Q2 of 2025 for the feasibility study, while the drilling costs in Q2 of 2024 mostly qualified as development costs and were capitalized. For the six-month period, we reported a net loss of $5,064,000 for the 2025 period, and net income of $14,560,000 for the 2024 period. The reasons for the change between periods are similar to those discussed for the three-month period. Again, the six-month period for June 30, 2024 included the $16.9 million gain, and this period also included an $800,000 gain on sale of a portion of the company's used mill equipment. Exploration and property evaluation expenses were also higher for the six-month period into June 30, 2025 because the company recognized $1.6 million for the 2025 feasibility study compared to the same period in 2024 when our drilling costs were largely capitalized as development costs. Turning to our financial position, at June 30, 2025, we continued to maintain a strong cash position to support our ongoing work at Mt. Todd. We ended the second quarter of 25 with $13.2 million cash on hand. This compares to $16.9 million cash on hand that we had at December 31st of 2024. The reduction in cash resulted primarily from expenditures for the feasibility study and cost of a recurring nature, which included Mt. Todd holding costs and corporate G&A. I'd also highlight that we continue to have no debt. Now, looking forward, we expect our recurring costs and other expenses to remain largely in line with expectations. For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2025, the estimate going forward for the next year that our recurring cost will be approximately $6.8 million, plus about $1.8 million related to ongoing and currently planned work at Mount Todd. Thank you. That concludes my remarks for the day. Brad, I'll turn the call back to you.

Thank you, Doug. As I mentioned earlier, we announced the results of the 15,000-ton-per-day Mount Todd feasibility study on July 29th. The study demonstrates strong economics, and provides a favorable development alternative to VISTA's previous feasibility study, which was completed in 2024 at a throughput rate of 50,000 tons per day. For those of you who may not have participated in our conference call following the announcement of the feasibility study results, I will provide a few highlights. The feasibility study demonstrates a 59% reduction in initial capital costs to 425 million U.S. When divided by the total ounces produced, this represents a very competitive capital efficiency of $93 per ounce of gold produced. The study also reports an average ore grade of 1.04 grams of gold per ton over the first 15 years of operations and 0.97 grams per ton over the life of mine. These are both improvements from the previous study. Average annual gold production is estimated to be 153,000 ounces of gold per year during years 1 through 15, and 146,000 ounces of gold per year over the 30-year life of the mine, with life of mine average gold recovery of 88.5%. The plan is designed with three stages of crushing, single-stage sorting, two stages of grinding, and a carbon and leach recovery circuit. To minimize capital expenditures and operational risks, we have utilized contract mining and third-party power generation in this study. And while this study does not assess potential expansion opportunities, we have preserved the optionality for future expansion by incorporating expansion considerations into the designs and layouts. The economics of this study are strong. And we recorded an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate of $1.1 billion U.S. An internal rate of return of 27.8% and a 2.7-year payback, all at a $2,500 per ounce gold price. Now, at a gold price that's closer to a slot, we used $3,300 per ounce gold price. And the after-tax NPD at the same 5% discount rate, is $2.2 billion at that gold price, with an IRR of 44.7% and a payback of 1.7 years. After-tax free cash flow at the $2,500 gold price is $1.6 billion for the first 15 years of commercial operations. All in sustaining costs were estimated to be just under $1,450 per ounce for the first 15 years of the project, and just under $1,500 per ounce for years 1 through 30. For additional information on the feasibility study results, I invite you to refer to our news release dated July 29, 2025, and the feasibility study presentation, both of which can be found on our company website. Changing topics, during the second quarter, we maintained our focus on safety, environmental stewardship, and stakeholder interest. Mount Todd achieved zero last-time accidents, and as I reported, has now achieved almost 1,370 days without a workplace incident. We remain committed to our health and safety programs and our focus on building on this achievement. Site personnel continue to successfully manage Mount Todd's environmental initiatives, and management continues its proactive engagement with the Jowlin Association Aboriginal Corporation and other key stakeholders. Looking forward, we believe the results of the study demonstrate a very attractive development opportunity for Mt. Todd. It positions Mt. Todd as a project with technical and economic parameters that are comparable to several highly valued Australian gold producers. We continue to focus on advancing Mt. Todd in ways that demonstrate the underlying value of the project and position it for near-term development. We believe the results of the feasibility study position Mount Todd as one of the most attractive development stage projects in the gold sector. In conclusion, VISTA is committed to seeing Mount Todd developed in compliance with the highest mining and ESG standards and will work diligently toward that goal. For a more comprehensive review of the work completed by VISTA on the Mount Todd project, I refer you to our corporate presentation which can be found on our website at www.vistagold.com. We believe that Vista Gold represents an exceptional investment opportunity and that current prices represent a tremendous opportunity to establish a position for increased loan holding in Vista Gold.

This concludes our formal remarks, and we will now respond to any questions from participants on the call. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the number 1 on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the number 2. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure to lift your handset before pressing M-T. One moment while we prepare the QA roster. Ladies and gentlemen, again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your touch-tone phone. And if you are using a speakerphone, make sure to lift your handset before pressing any keys. Your first question comes from the line of Matthew Gianelli, a private investor. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking the time out to talk with us. I've had a question. Let's say you do decide to finance the project through a lender or participate in a joint venture. Do you guys have any idea what you guys would do with the profits? Would you use it to expand operations or would you just intend to distribute the funds through dividends? I'm just curious to hear what your thoughts are on that.

Matthew, thank you for that question. That's a very important question. It's not possible at this point in time to give a definitive answer to your question. You know, we did indicate that the project has been designed with a long life presently, but we preserved the opportunity for expansion. Whether an expansion would happen or at what scale that expansion would happen would depend on economics at the time. I believe that there would be at all times a part of the profits that would be returned to investors. We feel very strongly that investors deserve a return. And whether all of those profits will be returned to shareholders or whether we'll be seeking opportunities at that stage in the life of the company to make other acquisitions or expand Mount Todd, would be determined based on market factors at the time. But certainly, I would feel comfortable saying that the board would place a high priority on returning part of the profits that are generated back to shareholders in the form of dividends.

Thank you. Am I still speaking? Can you still hear me? I just had a follow-up question on that, just a quick question. Did you guys have, would you be able to tell us if you guys had any increased interest from, or signed any new confidentiality agreements?

We don't disclose who we've signed confidentiality agreements with, but I can say that we have signed new confidentiality agreements in the last several months. Doug Kobler and I were in Australia last week for a conference called Diggers and Dealers, and we met with a number of potential investors partners or transaction partners, and there will be additional confidentiality agreements signed as a result of our participation in that conference.

Awesome. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, for questions, it's star 1, and if you'd like to refer a question, it's star 2. Your next question comes from the line of a Sony or a private investor. Please go ahead. Hey, guys, I appreciate you holding this call here.

You know, we're very excited with the future with the goals. And kind of digging back on the last question, the second part there, you know, in terms of the confidentiality agreements you guys have, you know, recently signed and have upcoming, what counterparties are showing the most interest in Mt. Todd? You know, strategic miners, private equity, or any additional royalty companies? And how are you evaluating potential JV versus M&A options in the current environment? I mean, gold is really foreign here, so it would be interesting to hear more on this.

Yeah, and I might ask Doug to comment when I finish, but the confidentiality agreements have been finer with strategic investors right now, other producing mining companies, or we – We view the M&A space right now as a very interesting space. We've been facing a little bit of headwind over the last several years with producers being more interested in merging or acquiring other producers than looking at development-based assets. We think that we see some changes happening in that space. With regards to whether we would pursue a joint venture, an asset level or corporate level sale of the project, the company, or whether we would ultimately decide to develop Mount Todd on our own are decisions that will be made at some point in the future. We continue at this time our focuses on raising awareness of the Mount Todd project with this new evaluation, the, uh, value of the project particular, uh, is very, is very strong. We think that, uh, this is a great selling point for the project at this point in time, the economics that, that conservative gold prices are, are, are very, very solid. And, uh, right now we're focused on, on meeting, talking with, uh, increasing the understanding of a wide group of potential partners, and then once we have confidentiality agreements signed, beginning that process of due diligence. And ultimately, we hope that many of these will lead to site visits and further serious discussions. Doug, anything that you would add to that?

No, I guess the only thing I'd emphasize is at this point in time, We're open to any of these alternatives. It all hinges around what's the most approximate and the best value for our shareholders. You know, somebody comes in and wants to do a joint venture, we're not going to say no if they also bring to the table the right types of skill sets in terms of development, putting the asset online quickly, and so forth. Similar company might come in and say, well, we don't want to do a joint venture. We'd be interested in owning the whole thing. we're going to be open to that as well because that might generate a more rapid realization of value for shareholders. So we're not closing the door on any of these options at this point in time. Well said.

All right, perfect. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it and send positive energy to the team. Thank you. Thanks, Tony. Thank you very much. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Mr. Frederick for closing comments. Please go ahead.

Constantine, thank you. And all of you who have been on the call today, thank you very much for taking time out of your morning or early afternoon to join us. We're very excited about the future for Vista Gold and the Mount Todd Gold Project. Very pleased with the results. of the feasibility studies that were announced last month. Again, I just highlight a couple of key achievements of the study. The significant reduction in initial capital expense is monumental. The improvement in reserve grades that's come about as a result of raising the cutoff grade was another significant target for this study. Very happy with the economics of the study at close to current gold price, $2.2 billion NPV5 and almost 45% IRR. We're very pleased with those numbers. I think they speak to the strong leverage that we continue to enjoy with regards to the Mount Todd Gold Project. And it speaks to the... the robustness of the project. I'm very pleased with these results. I can't give enough thanks and acknowledgment to the team that has worked on this feasibility study. We're very happy with the contributions of all of the consultants. and the Australia-centric experience that many of them bring and have brought to the study. Maria Vallejo, our Director of Projects and Technical Services, has done, I feel, an exceptional job in managing this study. I'm very thankful for her efforts in shepherding this study to this positive result. I'm very optimistic about the future of VISTA and the Mount Todd project. I invite all of you to follow closely. We will be attending some conferences in the next month. We're very excited for additional opportunities to sit down and meet with the companies that we may have already signed agreements or confidentiality agreements with. or that we believe would potentially be interested in the Mount Todd project. We invite you to follow us. We thank you for your time today, and we wish all of you a very pleasant day.

And with that, we'll close this call.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you very much for your participation. You may now disconnect.