respect of Idaho Gold Properties

cnw


/THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR U.S. DISTRIBUTION AND IS NOT A
SOLICITATION OR A PROSPECTUS FOR STOCK/


Consolidates Major Gold District with 3 Significant Gold Deposits with
District-wide Exploration Potential


VANCOUVER, Feb. 23 /CNW/ - Midas Gold, Inc. ("Midas", a private company) and Vista Gold Corp. ("Vista", TSX & NYSE Amex Equities: VGZ) today announced that Midas and
the US subsidiaries of Vista have executed a Combination Agreement
("the Combination Agreement") whereby they will contribute their
respective Idaho gold assets through a share exchange and contribution
to Midas Gold Corp., a new Canadian private company ("Midas Gold"). If
the plan of share exchange is approved by the shareholders of Midas,
and all other conditions to the transaction are satisfied or waived,
Midas Gold will be owned, on a fully diluted basis, 65% by Midas and
35% by Vista.


"The combination agreement with Vista will finally consolidate the
Stibnite-Yellow Pine gold district under one company, which should
allow for the first systematic evaluation of gold potential of the
district, unconstrained by artificial property boundaries," said
Stephen Quin, President & CEO of Midas Gold. "Midas will be
contributing the Hangar Flats and West End gold deposits, with its
significant gold mineral resources, along with its extensive and highly
prospective land holdings, to Midas Gold, while Vista is contributing
Yellow Pine, the largest gold deposit in the district," he said. "In
addition, considerable exploration potential remains, with
opportunities to expand all three known gold deposits along strike and
to depth. Further, there is potential to discover entirely new
deposits, based on information contained within an extensive
exploration database covering Midas' extensive land holdings in the
district."


"We believe the combination of the Vista and Midas gold assets is the
first step towards fully valuing our holdings in the Stibnite-Yellow
Pine gold district," said Mike Richings, Executive Chairman & CEO of
Vista. "The combined holdings will create a company with sizeable gold
deposits and district exploration potential. Advancement of Yellow
Pine and the Midas properties will be the sole focus of Midas Gold
under the very capable leadership of Mr. Stephen Quin. Vista has been
successful with similar asset rationalization strategies in the past
and we believe our shareholders will benefit from Vista's shareholding
in Midas Gold and Midas Gold's focused exploration of these assets."


Combination Agreement


The reorganization of the ownership of the Stibnite-Yellow Pine district
will be effected pursuant to the Combination Agreement among Midas,
Midas Gold, Vista Gold U.S., Inc. ("Vista US") and Idaho Gold
Resources, LLC ("Idaho Gold"), assuming a plan of share exchange (the
"Plan of Share Exchange") is approved by the shareholders of Midas at a
special meeting (the "Special Meeting") and all of the other conditions
to the closing of the reorganization are satisfied or waived. The
purpose of the Special Meeting is to consider and approve a Plan of
Share Exchange between Midas and Midas Gold pursuant to which Midas'
outstanding shares of common shares (the "Midas Shares") and
outstanding options (the "Midas Options"), other than Midas Shares held
shareholders who validly exercise their dissenters' appraisal rights,
will be exchanged for common shares and options of Midas Gold (the
"Midas Gold Shares" and "Midas Gold Options", respectively), with the
result that Midas will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Midas Gold.


The Plan of Share Exchange is part of a broader, integrated transaction
undertaken pursuant to the terms of the Combination Agreement, pursuant
to which, if the Plan of Share Exchange is approved at the Special
Meeting and the other conditions to closing specified in the
Combination Agreement have been satisfied or waived:



Vista US will: (a) organize Idaho Gold Holding Company as a wholly owned
Idaho corporation ("Idaho Holdco"); (b) contribute its equity interests
in Idaho Gold to Idaho Holdco; and (c) at closing, contribute all of
the issued and outstanding shares of Idaho Holdco to Midas Gold as a
capital contribution, in exchange for that number of Midas Gold Shares
equal to, on a fully diluted basis, thirty-five percent (35%) of the
Midas Gold Shares that are issued and outstanding at the time that the
transactions specified in the Combination Agreement and the Plan of
Exchange are completed;


The shareholders of Midas, other than any validly dissenting
shareholders, will contribute their Midas Shares to Midas Gold in
exchange for that number of Midas Gold Shares equal to, on a fully
diluted basis, sixty-five percent (65%) of the Midas Gold Shares that
are issued and outstanding at the time that the transactions specified
in the Combination Agreement and the Plan of Share Exchange are
completed; and


The holders of Midas Options will exchange their Midas Options for Midas
Gold Options of like tenor.



About the Golden Meadows Project


The Stibnite-Yellow Pine gold district lies at the intersection of major
regional fault systems and lies on the margin of the western ring
fractured margin of the Tertiary Thunder Mountain caldera complex.
Gold mineralization within the Golden Meadows Project appears to be
related to an intrusion related, gold-rich system overprinted by a
younger, epithermal gold system with increased silver and antimony.
Historic gold production from the district is estimated at
approximately one million ounces, primarily from underground
higher-grade gold-antimony production at Hangar Flats from 1925-38,
open pit mining at Yellow Pine from 1938-52, and from heap leaching of
oxide gold occurrences, including West End, Garnet Creek and Homestake,
from 1974 to 1997. The deeper sulphide gold potential has seen little
modern exploration. The principal gold deposits identified to date
within the Golden Meadows Project are Midas' Hangar Flats and West End
deposits, and Vista's Yellow Pine deposit, all of which are associated
with significant structural corridors. In addition, numerous other
gold targets have been identified, with potential for both shallow
oxide mineralization and deeper sulphide potential.


The independent resource estimate for the Yellow Pine deposit was
initially announced by Vista Gold on November 19, 2003, and the "Yellow Pine Project, Idaho, USA, Technical Report" was filed on SEDAR on December 12, 2003. Vista Gold subsequently
incorporated those mineral resources in the "Preliminary Assessment of the Yellow Pine Project, Yellow Pine, Idaho" filed on SEDAR on December 15, 2006. Both documents are filed under
Vista Gold's profile on SEDAR.


Since the filing of the 2006 preliminary assessment for Yellow Pine,
there has been no drilling within the area of the mineral resource
estimate for Yellow Pine. As part of the combination of the Midas and
Vista properties, Midas has retained SRK Consulting (US) Inc. ("SRK")
to complete a new NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the
Yellow Pine deposit using similar technical parameters as those used
for the Midas properties. Given that Midas has recovered additional
historic data, the different approaches to the estimation of mineral
resources and current economic conditions used by SRK, combined with
the lack of recent drilling at Yellow Pine, the mineral resource
estimate for Yellow Pine may change. Further, SRK is likely to require
some additional confirmatory drilling at Yellow Pine before it can
classify the deposit in the indicated or measured categories.
Therefore, following the combination, some or all of the mineral
resources at Yellow Pine are expected to be reclassified into the
inferred category until Midas Gold can complete the confirmatory
drilling during the summer of 2011. It is anticipated that SRK will
complete its new mineral resource estimate for the Yellow Pine deposit
by the end of March 2011.


When and if the consolidation of the Midas and Vista Gold properties is
completed, the development options and economic assumptions contained
in Vista Gold's 2006 preliminary economic assessment should no longer
be relied upon, given that the passage of time and the consolidation of
the deposits in the district, will result in different assumptions and
approaches to the economic considerations that will be used by Midas
Gold.


As noted in the February 22, 2011 news release by Midas, all three
deposits in the Stibnite-Yellow Pine gold district remain open to
expansion, with opportunities to expand all three of the currently
known gold deposits along strike and to depth. Further, there is
potential to discover entirely new deposits based on information
contained within an extensive exploration database.




Compliance with National Instrument 43-101


The technical information in this news release has been prepared in
accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National
Instrument 43-101 and reviewed by Stephen P. Quin, P. Geo., President
and CEO of Midas Gold, Inc. The exploration activities at the West End
deposit were carried out under the supervision of Christopher Dail,
C.P.G., Qualified Person and Project Manager for the Golden Meadows
Project.


For readers to fully understand the information in this news release,
they should read the relevant Technical Reports in their entirety,
including all qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that relate to
the information set out in this news release which qualifies the
Technical Information. Readers are advised that mineral resources that
are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
The Technical Reports are each intended to be read as a whole, and
sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The
technical information in those reports is subject to the assumptions
and qualifications contained in the Technical Reports.


Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for
mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral
resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are
considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations
applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral
reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral
resources will be converted to the measured and indicated categories
through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic
considerations are applied.


The mineral resources at Golden Meadows are contained within areas that
have seen historic disturbance resulting from prior mining activities.
In order for Midas to advance its interests at Golden Meadows, the
project will be subject to a number of Federal, State and local laws
and regulations and will require permit to conduct its activities.
However, Midas is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal or
other reasons that would prevent it from advancing the project at this
time.


Forward-Looking Statements


This document may contain "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking
statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date
of this document and Midas Gold, Inc. (the "Company") does not intend,
and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking
statements.


Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance
and reflect Company management's expectations or beliefs regarding
future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with
respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources,
the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and plan to
combine Vista's Yellow Pine deposit under the terms of the letter of
intent, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of
production, capital expenditures, success of mining operations,
environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes
or claims and limitations on insurance coverage. In certain cases,
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such
as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget",
"scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and
phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved"
or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their
very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different
from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among
others, risks related to actual results of current exploration
activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be
refined; future prices of mineral resources; possible variations in ore
reserves, grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other
risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental
approvals or financing or in the completion of development or
construction activities and the tax consequences of the proposed
combination. Although the Company has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ
materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there
may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as
anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that
forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results
and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance
on forward-looking statements.


Cautionary Note - This press release and the mineral resource estimates
referenced in this press release use the terms "Measured Mineral
Resources", "Indicated Mineral Resources", "Measured & Indicated
Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources." We advise you that
while these terms are defined in and required by Canadian regulations,
these terms are not defined terms under the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC") Industry Guide 7 and are normally not
permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with
the SEC. "Inferred Mineral Resources" have a great amount of
uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their
economic and legal feasibility. The SEC normally only permits issuers
to report mineralization that does not constitute SEC Industry Guide 7
compliant "reserves" as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to
unit measures. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part
or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted
into reserves. Midas Gold is not an SEC registered company.




For further information:

Investor Relationsat (509) 927-GOLD (4653) Or e-mail Midas at [email protected]