DENVER, Sept. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vista Gold Corp. (the "Company'') (NYSE MKT and TSX: VGZ) wishes to inform the market of the nature of recent transactions, which have resulted in a net increase in the number and percentage of shares held by the officers and directors of the Company. On August 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 (i.e. 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 the aggregate, have actually increased their ownership of common shares of the Company to approximately 2% (a total of 1,903,207 shares) from approximately 1% (a total of 809,907 shares).     

About Vista Gold Corp.

The Company is a well-funded gold project developer. Our principal asset is our flagship Mt Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia where we continue to work to identify opportunities to improve project economics with the goal of advancing the project toward development. We also hold approximately 4.4% of the outstanding common shares of Midas, non-core projects in Mexico and the United States and royalty interests in Indonesia. For more information about our projects, including technical studies and resource estimates, please visit our website at www.vistagold.com.

For further information, please contact Connie Martinez at (720) 981-1185.

SOURCE Vista Gold Corp.