Viva Gold reports strong drill hit at Tonopah project in Nye County

Viva Gold’s latest Tonopah hole is the kind of result that can move a project from hopeful geology toward a harder question for Nye County: can the numbers support an actual mine? The company said hole TG2606 cut 51.8 meters grading 2.34 grams of gold per ton, including 9.1 meters at 9.3 grams and 1.5 meters at 26.3 grams, in an area the company had previously treated as waste or inferred mineralization.

The intercept came from Viva’s 2026 reverse-circulation drill program at the Tonopah Gold Project, about 20 minutes from Tonopah and roughly a 30-minute drive south of Kinross Gold’s Round Mountain Mine. Viva said it had drilled 19 holes totaling 3,210 meters by mid-May, with assays still pending on 11 holes, as the company worked to convert inferred material into measured and indicated resources and test near-pit extensions. The program also includes drilling at Midway Hills, about 1.4 kilometers northwest of the main pit, where Viva wants to validate older discovery holes.

The economic stakes are clearer than the headline grade. Viva’s July 2025 mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment outlined 504,000 ounces of measured and indicated gold, 83,000 ounces of inferred gold, 1.8 million ounces of measured and indicated silver, and 402,000 ounces of inferred silver. The study projected 404,000 ounces of payable gold and 354,000 ounces of silver over a seven-year mine life, with an after-tax net present value of $111.6 million at $2,400 gold and $363.6 million at $3,200 gold. It also estimated $219.9 million in pre-production capital, a reminder that even strong drill results do not automatically translate into a mine.

For Nye County, the next question is whether the project can clear the technical, infrastructure and regulatory hurdles that separate exploration from production. Viva says the Tonopah site is 100% owned, includes 508 unpatented lode claims, and has commercial water and grid power nearby. The company also says a 15 kV power line crosses the property and that water can be purchased or rights leased or acquired. Those are meaningful advantages in a desert county where water access can make or break a project, but they do not erase the need for more drilling, engineering and permitting.

Viva also says the project is subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty on 184 claims, with the company retaining the right to buy down half of that royalty. President and CEO James Hesketh said the new intercepts could help add shallow, high-grade starter-pit material, reduce strip ratio and improve the economics of the ongoing pre-feasibility study, which Viva expects to complete in the fourth quarter of 2026. The Tonopah district has been explored for more than a century, but there has been no significant gold or silver production directly from the project site, only an old shaft and prospect pits. For now, the drill core points to potential, while the county is still waiting to see whether that potential becomes payrolls, tax base and a permitted mine.