Sun Valley Gold LLC: Control and Direction Over Common Shares and Warrants of Vista Gold Corp.

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO--(Marketwire - Dec. 21, 2012) - Sun Valley Gold LLC ("Sun Valley") announced today that it has acquired control and direction over 1,272,000 units ("Units") of Vista Gold Corp. ("Vista Gold") on behalf of Sun Valley Gold Master Fund, Ltd. (the "Master Fund"), a client account over which it has discretionary trading authority. The Units were acquired as part of a public offering by Vista Gold of a total of 4,182,550 Units for a subscription price of US$2.75 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share ("Common Share") of Vista Gold and one half of one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Common Share at a price of US$3.30 per share until December 21, 2014.

Following completion of the private placement, Sun Valley exercises control and direction over an aggregate of 12,084,310 Common Shares and 3,643,246 warrants for and on behalf of client accounts. The 12,084,310 Common Shares over which Sun Valley exercises control and direction represent approximately 14.82% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. If exercised, the 3,643,246 warrants to purchase Common Shares would, together with the 12,084,310 Common Shares over which Sun Valley exercises control and direction, represent approximately 18.46% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares (after giving effect to the exercise of such warrants, but not the exercise of any other warrants issued by Vista Gold).

The Master Fund beneficially owns 8,122,584 of the Common Shares and 3,063,246 of the warrants described in the preceding paragraph. The 8,122,584 Common Shares beneficially owned by the Master Fund represent approximately 9.96% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. If exercised, the 3,063,246 warrants beneficially owned by the Master Fund would, together with the 8,122,584 Common Shares beneficially owned by the Master Fund, represent approximately 13.22% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares (after giving effect to the exercise of such warrants, but not the exercise of any other warrants issued by Vista Gold).

The sole holders of common shares of the Master Fund are Sun Valley Gold International, Ltd., of which Sun Valley is the Investment Manager, and Sun Valley Gold, L.P., of which Sun Valley is the General Partner. Sun Valley is the investment manager for the Master Fund, and has discretionary trading authority over the securities of Vista Gold issued to the Master Fund.

The securities of Vista Gold were acquired for investment purposes. Sun Valley and the Master Fund may increase or decrease their ownership of securities of Vista Gold depending upon future market conditions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, OR TO OBTAIN A COPY OF THE EARLY WARNING REPORT FILED BY SUN VALLEY AND THE MASTER FUND UNDER APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION, PLEASE SEE THE CONTACT INFORMATION BELOW.