Program designed to allow for initial mine development decision
TVI Resource Development (Phils.), Inc. (TVIRD) announced today that drilling has resumed at its 100%-owned Balabag epithermal gold project. The property, covered by Mineral Production Sharing Agreement with the Philippine government, is located approximately 76 kilometres northeast of TVIRD’s operating copper/zinc mine at Canatuan, municipality of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte province.
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The four-month 26-hole drill program will be conducted in varying depths for a total of 2,500 meters. Balabag has a resource estimate of 208,000 AuEq Oz Indicated and 240,700 AuEq Oz Inferred.
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In June 2007, TVIRD and its Canadian affiliate TVI Pacific Inc., released a Canadian National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate of 208,000 gold equivalent ounces (AuEq Oz) at 3.84 grams per tonne (g/t) AuEq indicated category, and 240,700 AuEq Oz at 3.05 g/t AuEq inferred category (Lafleur 2007). In July 2008, the companies released the Balabag Scoping Study (Genivar 2008). The purpose of the Scoping Study was to assess the mining potential of a stand-alone, commercial, large-scale mining operation centered on the currently delineated Balabag deposit and to provide an order of magnitude of its economic potential.
This current 26-hole, 2,500-meter drill program is focused on the Tinago vein, the largest of three spatially related vein systems occurring at Balabag Hill. The vein systems are open laterally and at depth. This program aims to define the area where the Tinago vein system is anticipated to extend to depth. The target is a minimum of 50,000 AuEq Oz in the indicated category, allowing for a scoping study to define an economical start-up mine development program.
Should the program results indicate an economically mineable resource, it is TVIRD’s intention to build a mine in phases, in much the same way the original Canatuan gold mine was built, referring to this as a “bootstrap plan”. Initially, a 500 tonne per day plant would be constructed using infrastructure from the Company’s previous gold project at Canatuan, and then incrementally ramping up production as additional resources are defined through continued drilling. The project is expected to generate enough cash flow to pay for its phased expansion and generate a surplus.
Balabag Development Timeline
• Phase I: A drill program is underway to prove up a minimum of 50,000 AuEq Oz, which is expected to be completed in approximately four months, with assaying and metallurgical testing completed by a target date of late August 2010.
Additional drilling will continue to further define and expand the deposit beyond the initial 50,000 AuEq Oz.
• Phase II: An internal Scoping Study will be prepared, after assaying and metallurgical testing has been completed, to allow an initial mine development decision and will include geological modelling, pit optimization planning, detailed engineering bids and costing reviews, geotechnical, environmental and socio-political baseline studies. This work is expected to be completed by December 2010.
• Phase III: Mine development anticipated in Q1 2011 with expected production in Q3 of 2011.
TVIRD’s exploration programs are designed and conducted under the supervision of Cesar Medina, Qualified Person and Exploration Manager of TVIRD.