Viva Gold begins technical study at Tonopah

Executive Summary

• Viva Gold Corp. has officially commenced a comprehensive technical study for its 100%-owned Tonopah gold project in Nevada, aiming to complete a prefeasibility study (PFS) with certain components meeting feasibility-level standards.
• The study is expected to take eight to nine months to complete and will focus on refining mine design, processing options, capital/operating costs, and permitting pathways to reduce technical and execution risk.
• Kappes Cassiday & Associates (KCA) has been appointed as the lead author for the PFS, with Independent Mining Consultants handling resources, reserves, and mine design, leveraging specialized regional expertise for geotechnical and environmental analysis.

Key Details

• Study Scope: The technical study aims to produce a prefeasibility study (PFS) and establish a declared proven and probable mineral reserve.
• Timeline: The study is anticipated to be completed over the next eight to nine months.
• Lead Consultant: Kappes Cassiday & Associates (KCA) of Reno, Nev., is responsible for metallurgy, flow sheet, plants, dry stack, heap leach, infrastructure, and capital/operating cost estimation.
• Secondary Consultant: Independent Mining Consultants of Tucson, Ariz., is responsible for resources, reserves, mine design, and mine capital/operating cost estimation.
• Additional Specialists: Specialized consultants are contributing to geotechnical analysis, groundwater modelling, permitting, environmental studies, soil studies, leach pad stacking, and waste rock storage design.
• Refinements vs. June 2025 PEA: The study will incorporate specific refinements to improve capital efficiency and project definition, including:
  • Updated resource model incorporating new geologic or drilling information.
  • Mine plan emphasizing accelerated access to near-surface, higher-grade mill feed while stockpiling early low-grade heap-leach material.
  • Staged capital investment focusing on early high-return mill operations while deferring low-grade leach production.
  • Coarser crush size for heap-leach production to reduce capital and operating costs.
  • Trade-off study on contract versus owner mining, focusing on ore control for segregation of high- and low-grade gold mineralization.
  • Optimized pit-slope angles using updated geologic, structural, and hydrologic information.
  • Use of the PFS to write a plan of operations required to commence project permitting.
• Project Location: The Tonopah gold project is located near the town of Tonopah, Nevada, on the Walker Lane trend, approximately a half-hour drive south of Kinross Gold’s Round Mountain mine.

Notable Quotes

• "We believe that advancing the Tonopah gold project into a formal technical study is a meaningful step toward unlocking additional value, significantly derisking the project by establishing a detailed mine plan, capital and operating cost framework, and a declared proven and probable mineral reserve. Importantly, the study is expected to provide a clear road map toward permitting and capital efficient mine development. We anticipate completing this study over the next eight to nine months." — James Hesketh, President and CEO