Vancouver, BC - TheNewswire -  January 10, 2023 - Viva Gold Corp. (TSXV:VAU) (OTC:VAUCF) (the “Company” or “Viva”) announces that it has granted, pursuant to its stock option plan, a total of 2,750,000 stock options to directors, officers and consultants. The incentive stock options have an exercise price of C$0.155 per share and expire three years after the grant date. The vesting schedule is as follows: 50% of the options vest immediately and the remaining options vest 25% of the total grant, at the one-year and two-year anniversary dates until fully vested. The Board of Directors of Viva Gold are typically compensated via stock options.    

About Viva Gold Corp:

Viva Gold Corp’s (TSX-V: VAU; OTCQB: VAUCF; Frankfurt :7PB) principal asset is its 100% ownership in the Tonopah Gold Project (Tonopah), a large land position on the world class Walker Lane Mineral Trend in western Nevada, located about 30 minutes’ drive southeast of the Kinross Round Mountain gold mine. The project is well advanced with a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) describing a potential open pit, heap leach gold recovery operation and a pit confined measured and indicated gold mineral resources containing 394,000 ounces at 0.78 grams/tonne and 206,000 ounces of Inferred resource at 0.87 grams/tonne. The principal mineral trends on the property remain open for extension and the company has a track record of steadily increasing gold resource over the last four years. Viva is building market awareness as it advances Tonopah towards feasibility study and permitting and has made a significant commitment to ESG and de-risking the project through open community disclosure and near completion of a number of baseline environmental and technical studies.

Viva has a solid capital structure with 91.6 million shares outstanding and a strong management team and board who can claim both gold exploration and production experience.  For additional information on Viva Gold and the Tonopah Gold Project, please visit our website: www.vivagoldcorp.com.

For further information please contact:

James Hesketh, President & CEO

(720) 291-1775

jhesketh@vivagoldcorp.com

Anne Hite, Director Investor Relations

(303) 519-5149

ahite@vivagoldcorp.com

Forward-Looking Information:

This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, “forward-looking information”), including but not limited to drilling operations and estimates of gold mineral resource at the Tonopah Gold Project. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy, inflationary pressures, pandemics,  and issues and delays related to permitting activities; the price of gold; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the potential for achieving targeted drill results, the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with drilling and mining operations; and the ability of Viva to fund its capital requirements. Risks and uncertainties about the Company’s business are more fully discussed in the Company’s disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada available at www.sedar.com. Readers are urged to read these materials. Viva assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law.

Cautionary Note to Investors --- Investors are cautioned not to assume that any "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", or "inferred mineral resources" that the Company reports in this news release are or will be economically or legally mineable. United States investors are cautioned that while the SEC now recognizes "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources", investors should not assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into a higher category of mineral resources or into mineral reserves.  These terms have a great amount of uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility.  Under Canadian regulations, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in limited circumstances.  Further, "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to their economic and legal feasibility.  It cannot be assumed that any part or all of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. The mineral reserve and mineral resource data set out in this news release are estimates, and no assurance can be given that the anticipated tonnages and grades will be achieved or that the indicated level of recovery will be realized.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.