Artemis to buy Vista for $427M in Australia push

Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG) agreed to buy Vista Gold (TSX, NYSE-A: VGZ) in a $427 million (C$598 million) all-share deal that will add another major development asset beyond British Columbia’s Blackwater mine and give the company a pathway to more than 1 million oz. of annual production.

Vista shareholders will receive 0.0966 Artemis share for each share they own, according to a statement dated Monday. The offer represents a 29% premium based on the 20-day volume-weighted average prices through Sept. 18. No cash or new debt is involved.

Once completed, the deal will give Artemis full ownership of the past-producing Mt Todd gold project in Australia’s Northern Territory, where Denver-based Vista has spent years advancing the project toward development. As a permitted gold project, Mt Todd can be developed after Artemis completes planned expansions at Blackwater, allowing its new owner to sequence capital between the two assets rather than pursue both investments simultaneously.

“Mt Todd adds a large-scale, advanced-stage gold development asset in a Tier-1 jurisdiction, acquired at an attractive valuation for an asset we believe is materially more valuable inside a funded, cash-flowing producer with demonstrated development capability,” RBC Capital Markets mining analyst Harrison Reynolds said in a note.

Vista shares jumped 16% to C$3.70 Monday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at about C$540 million ($386 million). Artemis fell 4.7% to C$39.09 for a C$9.2 billion market capitalization.

Large resource

Located about 290 km southeast of Darwin and 56 km northwest of Katherine by road, Mt Todd is a feasibility-stage project with a large mineral resource and approvals for a processing plant designed to treat 50,000 tonnes per day. Artemis plans to review and optimize the existing development plan, rather than immediately commit to construction.

Mt Todd holds 340.4 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold per tonne for 9.1 million oz. gold of contained metal, according to a 2025 resource. It also hosts 57.1 million inferred tonnes grading 0.78 gram gold for 1.4 million oz. gold.

At a 5% discount rate and an average gold price of $2,500 per oz., Mt Todd has an after-tax net present value of $1.1 billion, an internal; rate of return of 28% and a 2.7-year payback period, according to a 2025 feasibility study.

“As with Blackwater, [Mt Todd] is a multi-million-ounce gold deposit that can be built at scale leveraging our financial strength and project development and management teams,” Artemis CEO Dale Andres said in Monday's statement.

Mining and milling operations at Mt Todd ended in 2001, while the property has existing road access and nearby rail and gas pipeline infrastructure. The project is located on land owned by the Jawoyn Association Aboriginal Corporation, with an agreement governing land use and development.

Beyond the defined resource, Artemis is acquiring a district-scale exploration position. Vista holds more than 1,300 sq. km. of contiguous exploration licences around Mt Todd, covering known gold, copper, tin and tungsten occurrences along a more than 25-km northeast trend that the company says has seen limited modern exploration.

Expansion plans

Blackwater, in central B.C., poured its first gold and silver in January 2025 and entered commercial production four months later. The mine is on pace to produce 265,000 to 290,000 oz. gold this year, Artemis has said.

Artemis is evaluating a stage 2 expansion that would lift annual production to more than 500,000 oz. a year. Expanding Blackwater’s output remains the company’s immediate priority, Andres said Monday.

Closing of the Vista deal is expected in January, subject to shareholder, court and regulatory approvals. These include Australian foreign-investment and Northern Territory approvals.

The transaction is expected to leave existing Artemis shareholders with about 95% of the combined company and Vista shareholders with about 5%. That excludes Artemis’ existing 4.95% Vista stake, which is to be cancelled.