Recent TVIRD exploration activity at Canatuan was designed to assess the lateral extension of the sulphide mineralization at the Canatuan mine site and to provide TVIRD a better understanding of the Canatuan mineral resource
Exploration Drilling Suggests Additional 150 Metre Sulphide Ore Body Extension To Northwest
New Discovery Of Rubbly Gossan Float Near Mine Site
TVI Pacific Inc. (TSX: “TVI” or the “Company”) announced today that recent exploration drilling by its Philippine affiliate, TVI Resource Development (Phils.), Inc. (“TVIRD”), suggests that the ore body associated with the sulphide zone at Canatuan extends laterally, in the northwest quadrant, to a distance of approximately 150 metres further than previously estimated.
The Company also announced the discovery of rubbly gossan float in a creek approximately three kilometres from the Canatuan Mine. The float is believed to have originated from a site near the mine’s main ore body.
Certain information set out in this News Release respecting future exploration activity at Canatuan constitutes forward-looking information. Readers should carefully review the cautionary statement respecting forward-looking information that appears at the end of this News Release.
The Company stated that assay results from the holes drilled in the sulphide-extension exploration program have been compiled for the purpose of preparing an updated National Instrument 43-101 report on the sulphide mineral resource at Canatuan – to be available in the near future.
Regarding the source of the gossan float, the Company commented that further exploration drilling is anticipated in 2007 to enable the Company to assess the potential impact of this new discovery on the life-of-mine of the currently producing Canatuan Gossan mill. Gossan is the oxidized, near-surface portion of the massive sulphide ore body, currently being mined for silver and gold. The massive sulphide deposit at Canatuan is a typical example of a volcanogenic polymetallic banded and massive sulphide horizon developing on the sea-floor above hydrothermal vents and containing copper, zinc sulphides and other complex minerals.
The Canatuan Project is located in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, in the Southern Philippines.
“We believe that this extension to the sulphide ore body has the potential to add to the mineral resource of the Sulphide Expansion Project and futher improve the overall economics of the project,” commented Clifford James, TVI President and CEO. “As well, if a new, economic, rubbly gossan deposit is present, it may allow us to extend the life-of-mine of the current Gossan plant, and extend the period that we will be able to run two mills together, with a single cost base.”
Recent TVIRD exploration activity at Canatuan was designed to assess the lateral extension of the sulphide mineralization at the Canatuan mine site and to provide TVIRD a better understanding of the Canatuan mineral resource, in preparation for the construction of the proposed sulphide plant. The exploration campaign involved diamond drilling and reverse
circulation (RC) drilling. TVI’s Exploration and Drilling Corporation (EDCO) conducted the drilling activity.
Technical Discussion
Initially, a total of 47 diamond drill holes were completed for metallurgical test work and infill drilling. Additional drilling was undertaken to assist TVIRD in its effort to delineate the extension of sulphide mineralization to the northwest, northeast, southwest and eastern peripheries of the Canatuan open pit, where the interpreted sulphide ore body is situated. A combination of diamond drilling and RC drilling was carried out to complete the drilling program. In total, 74 diamond drill holes and 125 RC drill holes were completed in the second half of 2006, aggregating a total of 3910.25 metres and 4761 metres, respectively.
Occurrences of sulphide mineralization were observed from the core samples recently obtained, which assay data from the drill core in the northwest area suggests an extension of the sulphide ore body (by approximately 150 metres) to the northwest and outside the outline of the open pit. Thus, additional diamond drilling focused on that area. Banded to massive sulphide, ranging from three (3) to ten (10) metres were evident with core drill holes CAN-06-42, CAN-06-46, CAN-06-47 and CAN-06-48. The rest of the drill holes in the northwest extension show an alternating series of quartz-pyrite-sericite-schist (QPSS) and thinly banded sulphide (BSUL) with 1-5% pyrite.
About TVI Pacific Inc. (TSX: TVI)
TVI Pacific Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian mining company focused on exploring for and producing precious and base metals within district scale systems in Asia.
In the Philippines, TVI’s most advanced project, the Canatuan Mine (the first foreign-invested, new, mining project in the Philippines since the passage of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995) began mining and milling operations in mid-2004, producing gold and silver dor??. In 2006, TVI received a completed NI 43-101 feasibility study on the Canatuan Sulphide project prepared by Norwest Corporation. The report has been filed with certain securities regulatory authorities in Canada and is available at the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. The Norwest study addresses the copper-zinc bearing massive sulphide zone, or lower portion of the Canatuan Deposit. Construction of the Sulphide Project at Canatuan is now underway. In addition, TVI holds a 2.5% NSR on the Philippine-based Rapu Rapu project operated by Lafayette Mining Ltd. Exploration in the Philippines is being conducted at Canatuan, in an effort to expand TVI’s mineral resource base and to find new deposits, at Balabag and at other areas which management of TVI view as compelling exploration properties.
In China, TVI’s wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary, Hunan Pacific Geological Exploration Inc. (“HPGEI”), was the first foreign mining company to be granted both WOFE status and a Qualified Explorer License. The exploration program in China is focused primarily within the Golden Triangle area, a highly prospective metallogenic region in China’s south-western provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi Autonomous Region and prospective areas in the Tibet Autonomous Region. HPGEI has 2,394 sq kms of land under application in China in the Golden Triangle and in the Tibet A.R.
TVI also has a Drilling Segment consisting of Exploration Drilling Corporation (“EDCO”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TVI Pacific Inc. based in the Philippines, and Hunan Pacific Drilling (“HPD”), a segment of HPGEI based in China, which generates revenue from contract drilling.