Viva Gold Company (You-TSXV, VAUCF-OTCQB) reported details of a major new gold discovery in the Midway Hills portion of the Tonopah Gold Project in Nevada.
Viva Gold’s principal asset is 100% ownership of the Tonopah Gold Project, a large landfill of approximately 3,561 hectares with measured and indicated resources of 26.7 million tonnes grading 0.59 g/t gold and 2.05 g/t silver or 504,000 ounces of gold and 1.76 million ounces of silver.
The project is located about 30 kilometers southeast of the city Kinross Gold Corp (your-TSX, kg of body weight-NYSE) Round Mountain Mine, 20 kilometers north of Tonopah.
On Thursday, the company said hole TG2616, drilled vertically at minus 90 degrees, intercepted 0.89 g/t gold and 6.78 g/t silver at a depth of 38.1 metres, including 6.1 meters averaging 3.56 g/t gold and 22.45 g/t silver from a depth of 179.8 metres. Testing is still pending for the remaining two exploration holes at Midway Hills, located approximately 1,400 meters northwest of the main resource hole at Tonopah, which is currently undergoing a pre-feasibility study. “Midway Hills is within the boundaries of the current exploration operations plan, which will significantly accelerate approval for additional drilling on this target,” the company said in a press release.
“This discovery clearly demonstrates the potential for a new area of high-grade gold mining in the Tonopah Gold Project area that had been discounted by previous explorers,” said James Hesketh, President and CEO of Viva Gold.
Viva Gold shares advanced on the news, rising 8.3%, or $0.01, to $0.13. Shares are trading in a 52-week range of $0.08 to 21.0 cents.
In August 2025, the company released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of the Tonopah project, which demonstrates that the project is viable for development as an economic open pit gold mine, producing gold and silver. The PEA details a traditional truck/loader open pit mining operation, which produces at a rate of 45,000 t/d over a seven-year mine life to feed a 10,000 t/d three-stage crushing plant with 2,000 t/d directed to a gravity/skip gold mill and 8,000 t/d sent to heap washing for gold/silver recovery.
The project is expected to produce 75,000 ounces of gold per year during the first two years, with an average production of approximately 50,000 ounces per year in years three through seven with production from the remaining leach in year eight. Over the life of the mine, the asset is expected to produce 404,000 ounces of payable gold and 345,000 ounces of silver. The all-in sustaining cost is US$1,269 per ounce of gold. Pre-production capital spending is expected to reach $219.9 million.
In a Feb. 11, 2026, press release, the company said it had staked 36 additional unpatented claims at Tonopah, covering 291 hectares and had received approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for 23 new drilling sites in and around the PEA design hole area and in the Midway Hills prospect area.
