Fred Earnest, 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 1 mining jurisdiction of Northern Territory, Australia. Welcome, Fred. Nice to see you again.
Nice to see you too, Ana. Thank you.
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. 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.
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 124.5 million shares issued and outstanding, a market cap of about $94 million. At the end of the year, we had $16.9 million 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 Ana indicated, we own and are building value based on the strengths of the Mount Todd Gold Project.
As I'll show you here in just a moment, this is a project located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It's a project that's permitted, 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. 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 tonnage. I'll talk more about that. At the same time, we're preserving the option 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 Australia, about 250 km 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've selected a size, as I indicated, 15,000 tons per day or 5.2 million tons per year. What the targets of this study is, I mentioned lower CapEx. We're targeting an initial CapEx of $400 million. 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 of gold per ton. 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, and estimate that it will range between 150,000-200,000 ounces of gold per year at this throughput. That's something on the order of 35%-40% of our previous study. The study is in progress. We're making substantial progress. Based on my recent meetings with contractors, I feel comfortable saying that we are essentially on time to deliver the project as anticipated the middle of this year. We believe that the creation 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 Mount Todd. It underpins our strategy for per-share value appreciation by minimizing dilution and managing risks. It demonstrates an achievable path for project development through, could be a number of different options, a joint venture partnership, other form of strategic transaction, or advancing on a standalone basis if the right market conditions exist. In undertaking this feasibility study, we're leveraging the technical work that's been completed previously for the 50,000 ton per day case. 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 common in Australia. One of the benefits of the Mount Todd project is that we have, it's a brownfield site.
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 is a natural gas pipeline, which we will use to generate our own power for the project. We are already connected to the Northern Territory electric grid, and that will provide power for construction. We have in the very back, at the upper kind of upper right, you see the 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 million tons.
Obviously, that reduces our initial upfront capital. The plant site, we're going to use the area of the previous plant site for the new plant. That means that we'll have considerably less civil works to undertake once we start construction. 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 Mount Todd is positioned. Last September, S&P Global Intelligence published some research that talked about the number of major gold discoveries over the last 35 years. 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 million ounces that were discovered in that 10-year period.
In the next decade, from 2000 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. 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. 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 Mount 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&A activity. This will drive greater interest on the part of those who want to be partners or acquire projects like Mount Todd. All of these things we believe bode very well for the future of Mount Todd. Now, just briefly, we have tremendous exploration potential. The resources that we report, 9.4 million ounces total resource, 7.8 million ounces of measured and indicated, are all located inside this little red box in the middle of this map. That is the boundaries of our mining tenements. That blue irregular shaped polygon outside of that is the boundaries of our exploration licenses. That covers almost 1,600 sq km. Within that, our exploration licenses cover two structural corridors that are known to be host to gold mineralization. The southern one, where the Batman deposit is, is the Batman-Driffield trend.
The Cullen-Australis trend is farther to the north. Our geologists are continually undertaking grassroots exploration activities on this large land package. They have identified a number of targets. Prior drilling, specifically within the boundaries of the mining license, has identified four targets along the strike length of the 24 km Batman-Driffield trend that are projected to have the potential to add between 1.8 and 3.5 million ounces. Last year, we drilled on the South Cross Lode. I am going to turn to that in just a moment, which is one of the four target areas. We had a very successful drilling program. The slide we are looking at here shows just kind of the planned view of last year's drill program.
Phase one is the area off to the left here, 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 definition to that part of the model. We encountered, we drilled a number of holes that had grade where we did not anticipate it, higher grades than we expected. We were very pleased with that. You see this kind of green-colored arm sticking off to the northeast. This is the South Cross Lode. This is what we believe is a connector from the Batman deposit to a line of exploration targets as we go northeast in the Batman-Driffield trend that is the connector geologically between the structures.
The interesting thing about the drilling in the South Cross Lode is that while we encountered mineralization that's very similar to the Batman deposit, i.e., a sheeted vein style mineralization with very, very narrow veins and maybe 10-15 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. 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 2 meters of solid quartz veining that was almost 13 grams per ton. It's very early. We're very excited about what we've encountered. I would have to be completely honest to say we don't completely understand what we've encountered. This could be the top of a bigger system that could be higher grade, something that could be mined from underground mining methods. That would be very exciting for us. The conclusions of last year's drilling program are, we expect to add resources. Given the fact that some of these resources are inside of 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 in the new feasibility study. There are some very tangible benefits from the money that was spent on this drilling program.
We've perhaps scratched the surface on something that we may be very, very excited about in the future as more exploration is undertaken. 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. Mount Todd is a very large, high-quality gold deposit in what we believe is one of the most mining-friendly jurisdictions in the world. The drivers for this year, the things that are going to add value, obviously, as we complete the feasibility study and announce new resource estimate and reserves that will be benefits from last year's drilling 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 million.
That's a 60% reduction. The reserve grade, we're prioritizing the grade. We're going to see a reduction in tons. We're going to see a reduction in reserves from previous reserves. We believe that having a 25% increase in grade will result in tremendous benefits for the project and ultimately our shareholders. With these higher grades, we're going to be able to sustain production in the range of 150,000-200,000 ounces of gold per year, even though we have much smaller throughput. We're preserving the opportunity for future expansions. That's something that's important to us. As we mentioned previously, 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 think it's important to note that Mount Todd is permitted. It's a ready-to-build development project in a great jurisdiction. We enjoy being in a time and an environment of a strong gold market. This idea of diminishing major gold discoveries, I think, is going to play to our advantage. With that, I'm going to stop the presentation and go back to a conversation with Anna.
All right. Great, Fred. Let's talk about the new Mount Todd feasibility study. It seems very exciting. It might be the catalyst that the market's been looking for. Mount Todd, as it moves closer to development and ultimately into production with the feasibility study expected to be completed mid-year, how do you think the results will be received by the market?
You know, it's interesting.
We've already received positive feedback regarding the size of the project, the initial CapEx, the reserve grade, the expected production from a number of different sources, both those who know the company quite well, investors, and others. I believe the market is hungry for fresh ideas related to development of projects. I believe that the paradigm shift that's represented in this study, thinking about something substantially smaller, will be very well received. We expect the lower CapEx and the improved reserve grade to resonate with many as we're able to publish results the middle of the year.
It sounds like you're actively pursuing these strategic transactions. It's going to maximize value for Vista shareholders. Please provide an update on your efforts to identify the right transaction.
Do you believe companies may be sitting on the sidelines waiting for the results of the study to be published before maybe taking action?
You know, 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 Mount 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. Since the first of the year, we have signed a number of confidentiality agreements. There are companies who are advancing their due diligence of Mount Todd.
I think that while we already have some people that have shown interest since the announcement of the new feasibility study, I believe that we'll see more interest once those results are announced.
You also mentioned a variety of potential strategic transactions that could move Mount Todd in construction and then production. Does this mean you would consider a corporate transaction and sale of Vista Gold? Would you consider building Mount Todd on your own?
You know, we're open to all options, I think, is the simple answer. We would consider a joint venture, a project-level or corporate-level transaction if it represents a recognition of the intrinsic value of Mount Todd and creation of value for our shareholders. We're not interested in a transaction that gives away Mount Todd. 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. We are always sensitive to dilution. Given the right financing strategy, timing, structure, cost, et cetera, and with the support of the market, with the support of our largest shareholders, we would be prepared to undertake development of Mount Todd on a standalone basis. It would be driven by support of the market and our ability to complete the financing in a way that would preserve the value, the upside for our shareholders.
I suspect there are very few gold projects the size of Mount Todd that are permitted and ready to build. Regardless of the path as chosen to develop Mount Todd, what would you have to do to commence construction? How long would construction take before pouring first gold?
Yeah. I think you're right.
I think there are very few projects that are of this scale that are fully permitted. From the point that, say, at the conclusion of this feasibility study 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 12 months to complete perhaps some additional testing and then detailed engineering and design. At the conclusion of, at the close of that period, there will be wrapping up and closing the financing arrangements. We're looking at an 18-month construction period. That would end in, at the end of construction and commissioning, you would see first gold pour. We're anticipating that we'll be looking at another six months of ramp-up to commercial production.
From that point that the decision was made, we'd be looking at 30 months to potentially pouring the first gold. We estimate 36 months to the point that we would be in a position to declare commercial operations and be achieving commercial production. Last year, you successfully completed a drilling program totaling 6,776 meters and reported positive results in the program earlier this year. What should investors understand about those drilling results? Why should they be excited about the exploration potential of Mount Todd? Yeah. Like I said, first of all, the drilling program, we expect it's going to add resource ounces. That's always important. I mean, Mount 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.
Given that that's the case, we expect some of the ounces that are added in resource will be converted to reserves. That will be reflected in the new feasibility study. Second, as I was mentioning about the South Cross Lode, 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. As future drilling is undertaken to evaluate and build on the knowledge that we gained in 2024, 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.
We have always said that Mount Todd, with its almost 1,600 sq km of exploration licenses, that there is bound to be several new additional gold deposits that are discovered over time that will add to and build further credibility for the Mount Todd Gold District. We are excited to have just scratched the surface on that.
Last question for you, Fred. Your stock has been performing quite well. It is up 37% for the year, so outperforming a number of your peers. What do you see as the key drivers with this performance?
You know, I think the first thing that comes to everybody's mind is gold price. That benefits all of us, not just Vista Gold, but our peers.
In addition to that, I think that some of the key drivers and catalysts have been the work that we're doing to take a fresh look at Mount Todd and the way that it might be developed. I think the paradigm shift, stepping away from 14 years of work at 50,000 tons a day and looking at 15,000 tons a day and a way to build the project and build the plant more efficiently and to de-risk the project. Smaller is always less risky than bigger. I think that these things have resonated with the market, the fact that we're looking at a 60% reduction in CapEx. At the same time, we reduce that size. We have 15%, or rather one-third throughput, but 35% to 40% of the gold production.
I think that all of these things, the fresh look, people are viewing this as Vista's doing the right things to minimize risk, create value, and to move the Mount Todd project to a position where development is likely, whether that's through a joint venture, a transaction with another party, or we do it ourselves. I think the future is bright for Mount Todd. I think that that's a big catalyst.
Wonderful. Thank you for this great update. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Fred, we appreciate your time and presentation with us. Good luck.
Thank you very much, Ana.
All right, everyone. We'll be right. Welcome back, everyone. We have an update from RUA Gold, which trades on the OTCQB under the symbol NZAUF and on the TSXV under the symbol RUA. It's an exploration company strategically focused on New Zealand.
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.
I will do. Thanks very much for having me again, Anna. I think we last presented on the 16th of January. It is never a dull moment at RUA Gold. We have continued drilling down in Reefton at our Auld Creek property. We have also completed a raise. Just as a quick touch on jurisdiction, I mean, New Zealand keeps getting better and better. Since January 16, and I encourage everyone to look at that presentation, we now have a critical minerals list for New Zealand, which was announced 31 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. 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. There are mining companies such as Oceana Gold that are in that six-month process. When the rest of the world is finally waking up to the Fast Track process, New Zealand started it 18 months ago. It's in the legislation now. It's being acted upon. New Zealand, as a reminder, is the best jurisdiction in the world. That's why we're there. That's why we're looking for our high-grade gold.
The other notable update since we last talked is in February, we actually closed an oversubscribed financing for CAD 5.75 million. That sees us continue our aggressive exploration program all the way through the year. 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. We are not a struggling explorer unable to find capital. We've got money in the bank. We've got drills turning. We've got catalysts coming. Just as a reminder, we are in the South Island of New Zealand, which is really where a lot of the action is at the moment. It is in the Reefton Goldfield. It is a past-producing area.
It already produced 2 million ounces at grades of 9-50 grams a ton gold. We're talking really high-grade gold here. The exploration results we've brought out exactly confirm that. We're currently targeting an area called Auld Creek. It hasn't had past workings on it. All the drilling we're doing is very shallow. We're talking 150 meters deep. We found 2 grams of gold over 12 meters, but 2% antimony. Antimony is such an important critical mineral these days. The U.S. has got it on their critical minerals list. They're throwing money at trying to secure a supply of it. China controls all the supply of antimony currently. The Western world have woken up and are trying to get their own supply chain secured. We're sitting on New Zealand's antimony supply.
In gold equivalent terms, our drill results that we put out in February after we presented to your audience was 8 meters at 13.2 grams per ton equivalent and 12 meters of 12 grams equivalent. These are really nice, wide, high-grade intercepts. 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. Then it gets richer gold as it goes down. That's where we expect to see the 20-30 gram per ton gold results. 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. We've got a team that's executing with drills turning. Three, there's a lot more drill results coming to the market.
We will continue to come to the market over the coming few months. I'll pause there. I'll open it up to any questions. It's a really tight update for me because I really want to answer any questions people have. OK, great. Yeah, we have a few questions. Morgan wants to know what results are upcoming and when are they expected. We've got five holes out at Assay right now. We'd be expecting those within the next 7-10 days to come out to the market. Frank wants to know, are you fully permitted? 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's an earlier exploration play. We're going through the permitting process right now.
Really, the catalysts that I see for shareholders is drill results from our fully permitted operations in the South Island. Chris wants to know, are you going to develop on your own to go into production? Or do you need a partner? The joy of having really high grade is the CapEx for these things are closer to $100 million-$200 million or $300 million. 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 Roxg old. Chairman Oliver Lennox- King and Director Paul Criddle both just came out of Roxg old. They built a high-grade small mine in Burkina Faso.
They put that into production. They built another mine and put that into production. They sold the whole thing for over $1 billion. That is really the playbook here: small is beautiful. High grade is high margin. That is what we are focused on. We have got the depth to be able to build it ourselves. Brett wants to know a little bit about the infrastructure, the roads, the utilities. That is a really good question. Reefton is actually an active mining town. If you look at this picture, you will see a gray dot here of Globe Progress. That is an old open pit mine. Also, on the foothills of each of these mountains are active coal mines. We have already got active coal mines in this district. We have got an active mining community. It has got high-voltage power. It has got highway. It has got rail.
It's got a port that's less than 100 km away. Infrastructure is the furthest from our problem that we would ever have.
Perfect. Robert, what closing remarks do you have for our viewers today?
I'd really encourage everyone to take a look at New Zealand. We are the leading explorer of New Zealand. We've got two amazing land packages. We are 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. We were presenting together about why New Zealand is such a good place to be.
In this world where you want safety, and that's why we go to gold, you want a good jurisdiction 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. That's why we can raise money. 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. I'm happy to have a follow-up call with any interested investors.
Perfect. Thank you for this update. We look forward to continuing on with your journey. Appreciate you.
Thanks, Ana. All right, everyone, stay with us. HydroGraph Clean Power had to postpone to our conference in April.
We will see them again very soon. We do have Aethlon Medical coming in at 3:25 P.M. Eastern. We will see you real soon.