Increased Gold Recovery At The Tonopah Gold Project

VANCOUVER - Viva Gold Corp. has completed an initial metallurgical optimization program for its Tonopah Gold Project, located near Tonopah, Nevada. The work is reported in a study titled "Tonopah Gold Project, Pulp Agglomeration, Report on Metallurgical Testwork". Pulp agglomeration/heap leach testing produced a calculated gold leach recovery of over 91% for high-grade (+ 1.0 gpt gold) composite samples; the 91% indicated recovery is significantly higher than the 71% recovery estimate utilized in the 2022 PEA Technical Report. Gold recoveries on the low-grade composite sample was 68%; this recovery estimate compares well to the overall 71% heap leach recovery for the composited high- and low-grade recoveries utilized in the 2022 PEA Technical Report.

James Hesketh, President and CEO, said, "This metallurgical program indicates the potential for substantially increased average gold recovery at Tonopah and justifies additional testwork. The pulp agglomeration process is historically proven as a modification to the conventional heap leach process used to capture gold recovery that would otherwise be lost at properties that have a substantial component of discreate high-grade mineralization in combination with lower-grade mineralization. We believe that the revenue gains from implementing this process may substantially offset any capital and operating costs associated with the process, thereby improving overall project economics. We are planning additional testwork to further validate and optimize these results."