Viva Gold Initiates Work Programs and Resource Expansion Initiatives

Original announcement by tmx on

Company
Viva Gold Corp
Ticker
VAU
Exchange
TSX
Region
Nevada
Primary commodity
Gold
Secondary commodities
Silver
Document categories
Drill results, Metallurgy, Resource update
Extracted
2026-09-19 03:54:18 UTC

Analysis by Minestarters Atlas

Minestarters Atlas analysis

Summary

Viva Gold has commenced work programs to advance the Tonopah project toward feasibility, including infill drilling to convert inferred resources to M&I. The company is also conducting metallurgical bottle roll tests to evaluate coarse-crush heap leach potential for low-grade mineralization.

Reasoning: The company is transitioning from PEA to feasibility stage with specific work programs targeting resource conversion and metallurgical optimization.

Positive factors

  • Commencement of feasibility-level work programs
  • High-confidence resource (86% M&I)
  • Strategic focus on cost-reducing coarse crush heap leach testing
  • Nearness to Kinross Round Mountain mine

Negative factors

  • Reliance on infill drilling to convert inferred material

Facts used in scoring: 2

Classification and evidence

Infill Drillingneutral

Confirmatory drilling to raise resource confidence, not new discovery.

Why it applies: Work plan aims to infill remaining areas of high-grade inferred mineralization for conversion to M&I.

Evidence · text

“The primary goal of this work is to infill remaining areas of high-grade (1.0 gram per tonne (“gpt")) inferred mineralization within the 2025 PEA pit shell for potential conversion to measured and indicated material”

Heap Leach Routeneutral

Processing via heap leach — lower CAPEX and OPEX, lower recovery expected.

Why it applies: Company is conducting bottle roll tests to evaluate heap leach gold recovery potential.

Evidence · text

“A series of bottle roll tests are currently underway to test heap leach gold recovery potential”

Nearology Playneutral

Value premise rests on proximity to a known deposit rather than own results.

Why it applies: Project is located half an hour from Kinross Gold's Round Mountain mine.

Evidence · text

“half hours’ drive from Kinross Gold’s Round Mountain gold mine”

Mill Routeneutral

Processing via mill or concentrator (CIL, CIP, tank leach, flotation).

Why it applies: the document describes a mill_cil route ("CIL")

Single Domain Onlynegative

Testing limited to one composite or domain — representativeness not established.

Why it applies: only one composite was tested

Extracted facts

Stored fact records: 2. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.

Drill Results (1)

Fact 1Needs review: drill_no_hole_idView all details
Link to this fact

Identity

Region
usa_nv
Reported Region
usa_nv
Ticker
VAU

Classification

Program
resource
Sample Type
drill

Location

Location
2025 PEA pit shell
Loc. Source
document

Review

Needs Review
Yes
Review Reason
drill_no_hole_id
Interp. Status
scored
Historical
No

Dates

Event date
2026-01-14T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Infill drilling to upgrade resource confidence.

Positive factors

  • Targets high-grade inferred mineralization

Evidence · text

“infill remaining areas of high-grade (1.0 gram per tonne (“gpt")) inferred mineralization within the 2025 PEA pit shell for potential conversion to measured and indicated material”

Tags used in scoring

No QA/QC Disclosurenegative

Release does not disclose QA/QC — lab certification, CP/QP sign-off and assay protocols cannot be checked from this document.

Why it applies: qaqc_disclosed is not true

Cut-off Undisclosednegative

High-grade interval reported without stating the cut-off grade used for compositing.

Why it applies: no cutoff_grade was stated

Infill Drillingneutral

Confirmatory drilling to raise resource confidence, not new discovery.

Why it applies: drill_program_type is "resource"

Metallurgical Results (1)

bottle rollgoldHead Grade: 0.4Head Grade Unit: gptView all details
Link to this fact

Identity

Commodity
gold
Region
usa_nv
Reported Region
Nevada
Ticker
VAU

Test Work

Program Status
preliminary
Test Type
bottle roll
Processing Route
heap leach
Sample
low-grade gold mineralization (~0.4 gpt Au) at coarse crush size (36mm)

Recovery

Head Grade
0.4
Head Grade Unit
gpt

Review

Needs Review
No
Historical
No

Dates

Event date
2026-01-14T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Testing coarse crush heap leach potential for low-grade ore.

Positive factors

  • Potential to reduce CAPEX/OPEX via coarse crush

Evidence · text

“A series of bottle roll tests are currently underway to test heap leach gold recovery potential at a coarse crush size (36mm) for low-grade gold mineralization (~0.4 gpt Au)”

Tags used in scoring

Heap Leach Routeneutral

Processing via heap leach — lower CAPEX and OPEX, lower recovery expected.

Why it applies: processing_route matches the heap_leach signal

How Atlas produces this analysis

Minestarters Atlas uses automated extraction to summarize mining announcements, identify reported measurements, and classify supporting evidence. Sentiment reflects the extracted narrative and classification rules; it is an interpretation, not a reported measurement. Evidence quotes and context are provided where available. Missing data, low-confidence results, and review flags indicate limitations. Check the original publisher announcement before relying on an interpretation.