Project History
Gold and tin were discovered in the Mt Todd area in 1889 and most early production from the area occurred in the period 1902 to 1914. Regional exploration turned to tungsten in 1913, followed by uranium in the 1950s before returning to gold exploration in the 1970s. The Billiton-Zapopan JV discovered the Batman deposit in May 1988, and commercial production from Batman commenced in 1993. Pegasus Gold made its first investment in the Mt Todd project in 1992 and was the sole owner and operator of the site from 1995 until mid–1997. Mt Todd was operated briefly in 1999-2000 by a joint venture comprised of Multiplex Resources and General Gold Resources. Operations ceased in July 2000 and most of the equipment was sold and removed from the site when the project went into receivership.
Vista acquired Mt Todd in 2006 and has invested over US$110 million to advance the Mt Todd project. Significant investments have been made in areas related to Vista’s environmental stewardship for the site, drilling, and metallurgical testing. The gold resource of the project has tripled (now almost 9.5 million ounces) with over 60,000 meters of core drilling. Extensive metallurgical testing has been completed to optimize the metallurgical flow sheet and achieve an estimated gold recovery of 91.6%. Vista has also received the approval of all major environmental and operating permits.
The Company has completed several technical studies and in February 2022 announced the results of the Mt Todd feasibility study. In 2023, Vista completed an internal scoping study that evaluated the technical and economic merits of smaller-scale alternatives. The results were promising and contemplate significantly lower initial capital costs for a smaller-scale project, while preserving the opportunity for subsequent staged development