Ms. Connie Martinez reports

VISTA GOLD CORP. OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS INCREASE OWNERSHIP POSITIONS

Vista Gold Corp. wishes to inform the market of the nature of recent transactions that have resulted in a net increase in the number and percentage of shares held by the officers and directors of the company. On Aug. 11, 2016, a total of 1,783,300 common shares of the company were issued to officers and directors of the company upon the vesting of restricted stock units (RSUs), which had been granted to the officers and directors in prior years as part of the company's long-term incentive plan, which is designed to incentivize the achievement of various company goals and objectives. The vesting of RSUs (that is, the issuance of common shares of the company to officers and directors) resulted in a personal income tax obligation on the part of the recipient, payable in cash, based on the value of the common shares that had vested. Some of the vested shares were sold by individual officers and directors to facilitate payment of their respective personal income taxes.

As a result of the RSU vesting event, net of selling to cover the respective personal income tax obligations, officers and directors of the company, in total, have actually increased their ownership of common shares of the company to approximately 2 per cent (a total of 1,903,207 shares) from approximately 1 per cent (a total of 809,907 shares).

About Vista

Vista's principal asset is its flagship Mount Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia. The company also holds approximately 4.4 per cent of the outstanding common shares of Midas, non-core projects in Mexico and the United States, and royalty interests in Indonesia.