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Nature of Operations | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2020
Nature of Operations |
Nature Of Operations | 1. Nature of Operations ​ Vista Gold Corp. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Vista,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) operates in the gold mining industry. We are focused on evaluation, acquisition, exploration and advancement of gold exploration and potential development projects, which may lead to gold production or value adding strategic transactions such as earn-in right agreements, option agreements, leases to third parties, joint venture arrangements with other mining companies, or outright sales of assets for cash and/or other consideration. We look for opportunities to improve the value of our gold projects through exploration drilling and/or technical studies focused on optimizing previous engineering work. We do not currently generate cash flows from mining operations. ​ The Company’s flagship asset is its 100% owned Mt Todd gold project (“Mt Todd” or the “Project”) in Northern Territory Australia. Mt Todd is the largest undeveloped gold project in Australia. Since acquiring Mt Todd in 2006, we have invested substantial financial resources to systematically explore, evaluate, engineer, permit and de-risk the Project. We believe these efforts have increased the total gold resources and reserves, added substantially to the underlying value of the Project, and demonstrated its development potential. ​ In September 2019, Vista announced the positive results of an updated preliminary feasibility study for Mt Todd and subsequently amended this study in September 2020 to correct and/or clarify certain items (the “2019 PFS”). Key improvements reflected in the 2019 PFS included increased estimated gold recovery and production, and selection of vertical milling equipment that is expected to be better suited for the anticipated grinding requirements and to reduce energy consumption. Mt Todd will benefit from these improvements, other design efficiencies, and utilization of certain existing infrastructure, which have reduced the Project’s estimated development costs. ​ Vista held other non-core assets at December 31, 2020, including royalty interests in the United States and Indonesia, payments receivable upon cancellation of a royalty on a gold/silver project in Mexico, mill equipment not in use and listed for sale, and other holdings of third-party equity securities.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (a) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99393423&loc=d3e5967-108592 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2134479 + Details
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