Overview
The following is a time progression of development of the Balabag Gold Project from January 2020 through to February 23, 2021:
Aerial view of Mill Plant Site of the Balabag Gold Project in August 2019.
Aerial view of Mill Plant Site of the Balabag Gold Project on January 27, 2020.
Aerial view of Mill Plant Site of the Balabag Gold Project on May 16, 2020.
Aerial view of Mill Plant Site of the Balabag Gold Project on February 2, 2021.
TVIRD owns 100% of the Balabag project. The project covers a 4,779-hectare
Mineral Processing Sharing Agreement (“MPSA”, MPSA No.
086-97-IX) located within the Municipality of Bayog, Province of Zamboanga
del Sur and Municipalities of Diplahan and Kabasalan, Province of Zamboanga
Sibugay, Mindanao, Philippines. The project is situated approximately 75
kilometers (47 miles) east-northeast of TVIRD’s Canatuan mine.
TVI Pacific announced on November 22, 2019 that TVIRD had officially
determined to advance its Balabag gold and silver mining project towards
commercial production and is progressing with various development works.
The production decision followed the closing and first drawdown by TVIRD,
announced on October 22 and October 24, 2019, respectively, of a US$28.5
million term loan facility (the “Facility”) with China
Banking Corporation. The Facility has been provided specifically to finance
construction of infrastructure at the Balabag project and is expected to be
sufficient to enable Balabag to become operational while the remaining
capex until the end of mine life will be funded by the Balabag operations.
Prior to the first drawdown, TVIRD funded development works with internally
generated funds which equate to approximately US $14.5 million, including
the cost of Canatuan equipment that has been decommissioned and fully
rehabilitated for use at Balabag to reduce overall capital expenditures.
On May 12, 2020, TVI Pacific announced that TVIRD had completed its seventh
and final drawdown under the Facility provided by China Banking Corporation
to bring the total drawn to date equal to the total of the available
Facility at US $28.5 million. The remaining balance of the drawn funds are
now held within the accounts of TVIRD and are managed directly to fund
contractor and equipment suppliers as commitments come due. TVI Pacific
does not currently have any spending commitments with respect to Balabag
whatsoever. TVIRD is not funded by new shareholder capital or shareholder
loans and TVIRD does not have the contractual right to compel TVI Pacific
to provide any funding. As mentioned previously, it is expected that the
Facility described above to finance construction of infrastructure at the
Balabag project will be sufficient to enable Balabag to become operational
while the remaining capex until the end of mine life will be funded by the
Balabag operations.
Resources
Based on results of drilling completed to the end of June 2011 and as included in the Balabag NI 43-101 technical report dated June 23, 2012, the current indicated mineral resource is estimated to be1.78 million tonnes averaging 2.34 g/t gold and 72.3 g/t silver, containing 134,262 ounces of gold and 4,148,196 ounces of silver.
TVI Pacific released on October 18, 2019 an updated NI 43-101 entitled “NI
43-101 Technical Report: Balabag Gold and Silver Project, Balabag, Depore,
Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines” but at the request of the Investment
Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (“IIROC”)
issued an announcement on November 22, 2019 to clarify and retract certain
disclosure contained in the related press release as well as the updated
Technical Report itself. The press release referenced this updated
Technical Report and stated that certain scientific and technical
information noted in the press release was based on information provided by
technical personnel of TVIRD, as supported by a mine visit in April 2019 by
the Company's nominated Qualified Person who had authored the Report. As
stated in the Company’s press release of November 22, 2019, the updated
Technical Report filed on SEDAR on October 18, 2019 was not prepared in
compliance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for
Mineral Projects. Specifically, certain components of the updated Technical
Report, including the mineral resource estimate on which it is based, were
not prepared independently of TVIRD and therefore were not prepared in
accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. The Company has therefore
withdrawn the scientific and technical disclosure set out in the press
release and readers are cautioned that the scientific and technical
disclosure set out in that press release, and the Report itself, should not
be relied upon to the extent the disclosure was not in compliance with NI
43-101 criteria.
The Company is continuing to evaluate steps that it may take to establish a
NI 43-101-compliant basis for future scientific and technical disclosure
concerning Balabag. In the interim, the Company, as a minority shareholder
of TVIRD, expects to continue to support TVIRD in its efforts to construct
required infrastructure for the Balabag project.
The Company wishes to clarify also that in making the decision to put
Balabag into production, TVIRD, a Philippine corporation that the Company
does not control, relied exclusively on technical and economic analysis
prepared under Philippine regulations and did not rely on TVI's updated
Technical Report of October 18th, 2019 or any feasibility study
classifying mineral reserves prepared in accordance with NI 43-101.
Historically such projects have a much higher risk of economic and
technical failure.
Please click here to see the NI43-101 technical report dated June 23, 2012 entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Balabag Gold Project, Zamboanga Province, Philippines”.
Development
As reported earlier, TVI Pacific announced on November 22, 2019 that TVIRD
has officially determined to advance its Balabag gold and silver mining
project towards commercial production and is progressing with various
development works. This follows receipt in October 2013 of the
Environmental Compliance Certificate (“ECC”) and in April
2016 the Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility (“DMPF
”) as well as the Special Tree-Cutting and Earth Balling Permit from the
Forest Management Bureau (“FMB”) of the Department of
Energy and Natural Resources (“DENR”) in May 2018.
TVIRD awarded the contract in 2019 to undertake a design review and to
provide construction supervision services for the Balabag Tailings Storage
Facility (“TSF”) to GHD Pty Ltd, one of the world's
leading professional services companies operating in the global markets of
water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and
transportation and work is progressing.
Development work is proceeding under the direction of Mr. Yulo Perez,
President of TVIRD, who previously led mine development works and
operations at TVIRD's successful Canatuan mine Phases 1 (Gold/Silver) and 2
(Copper/Zinc) as Vice-President of Operations and Chief Operations Officer
of TVIRD. Mr. Perez helped contribute to the receipt by TVIRD of multiple
awards from the Philippine government and leading mining industry
associations.
TVI Pacific announced on December 29, 2020 that commissioning of the
front-end circuits of the process plant were well underway and included low
grade ore being fed through the crushing area for the purpose of debugging
the Mill. Testing of the crushing area, the grinding and flotation
circuits, the power plant and water supply are complete. Commissioning of
the concentrate leach circuit, the Carbon In Leach (“CIL”)
area and the detox plant is now also complete. Critical remaining works
include completion of the Tailings Storage Facility (“TSF
”) where stripping and removal of waste materials and the placement,
spreading and compaction of numerous layers is continuing.
Project development continues to move forward as evidenced in the following
photos:
Views of the crushing and grinding areas on February 28, 2021 where the mills and circuit have been commissioned. 1,500 tons of ore is currently prepared as feed to further test the grinding area through the second week of March. Final painting will be scheduled after the ore load testing.
Views of the filter press area on February 28. 2021 where Filter Press #1 is now operational and the fabrication of controls for Filter Press #2 is in progress. The filter press is common solid-liquid separation equipment widely used in the dewatering operation of the tailing slurry of the CIL process.
Views of Thickener #1 on February 21, 2021.
Views of Thickener #2 on February 21, 2021.
Views of Thickener #3 on February 21, 2021.
Flocculant dosing system modifications have been tested and the thickener tanks are ready for Plant power-on and load test at February 21, 2021.
Views of the Carbon in Leach area on February 21, 2021 where modifications to the intertank screen have been completed following testing and the circuit is ready for Plant power-on and load test.
The Merrill Crowe circuit on February 28, 2021 where equipment has been tested and the circuit is ready for operation. The Merrill Crowe is a separation technique for removing gold from the solution obtained by the cyanide leaching of gold ores.
Elution column area construction on February 28, 2021, where installation of the carbon kiln has been completed and piping and electrical works are ongoing. The use of elution columns in gold and silver recovery is a cost-effective method of recovery of the valuable metals as the elute solution circulates through the loaded carbon extracting the gold and silver. The process continues until the carbon is stripped of the valuable metals.
External view of the Gold room on January 19, 2021.
Equipment installation in the gold room on February 28, 2021 where hydrotesting, dry runs and equipment final testing has been performed and the rectifier and oven are now 100% operational. Further testing of the furnace is scheduled in early March upon arrival of the Firebrick Body Mortar.
Helipad clearing and development on February 9, 2021 where the installation of rebar has been completed and from which gold doré bars will be transported.
Administration building on November 21, 2020.
Assay and Met Lab on February 28, 2021 where installation of the assay air compressor and its piping is ongoing as well as fabrication of the Met Lab dust collector.
Views of Tailings Storage Facility (“TSF”) on February 23, 2021, where the stripping and removal of waste materials as well as the placement, spreading and compaction of numerous layers continues. Completion of the TSF is a critical path item.
Exploration
TVIRD commenced its own drilling program at Balabag in November 2005 and has continued exploration works through to the current date, completing 347 drill holes with a total meterage of 38,295.10 meters as at August 31, 2020 as reflected in the table below. Initial drilling in 2005 and 2006 was set at 50 meter intervals but from 2007 onwards the drill hole spacing was reduced to 25 meters in order to upgrade the resource into the indicated and measured category.
Year
|
No of Drill holes
|
Meterage
|
2005
|
2
|
131.30
|
2006
|
57
|
6,822.10
|
2007
|
42
|
4,021.30
|
2010
|
54
|
7,595.15
|
2011
|
118
|
13,185.60
|
2012
|
5
|
1,179.60
|
2013
|
18
|
1,220.55
|
2018
|
12
|
1,068.10
|
2019
|
15
|
1,211.95
|
2020
|
24
|
1,859.45
|
TOTAL
|
347
|
38,295.10
|
The most recent drilling commencing in 2018 was carried out in phases,
targeting the vein system extensions at Lalab, Miswi and Unao-Unao areas.
Phase 1 drilling aimed to increase the resource at Lalab area and included
12 drill holes with an aggregate meterage of 1,068.10 meters. Drill holes
were oriented on a NW direction to intersect the true width of the vein.
Four (4) sub-vertical veins were encountered during drilling. Phase 2
drilling focused on Miswi veins and included 15 drill holes and an
aggregate meterage of 1,211.95 meters while Phase 3 drilling focused on the
Monding mineralized veins at Unao-unao area and included 24 drill holes
with a total meterage of 1,859.45 meters.
The drill program has been focused on the understanding of quartz vein
characteristics, alteration associated with mineralization, host lithology
and structural control on mineralized quartz veins and gold-silver assay
grades. Based on this detailed review, the crosscutting relationships of
the different quartz veins, vein breccias and stockworks provided, a
clearer picture in terms of sequence or stages of quartz deposition and
alterations related to mineralization were identified. Ranges of gold and
silver grades on the different quartz veins and breccias were also
determined that gave information as to what types of quartz veining are
giving higher grades.
Test pitting and trenching have also been performed to provide additional
data. Test pitting has been conducted to determine if gold values define a
vertical zonation along projected vein zones. The test pits were also used
to correlate the intensity of weathering and oxide minerals with gold
values at identified projected vein zones.
Test pitting was initiated after several surface samples returned anomalous
gold values. The test pits have 1 meter by 1 meter dimension and the
maximum depth was 3 meters. Samples are collected by creating a channel (10
cm wide and 10 cm deep) on two opposite walls of the test pit. Samples are
collected for every meter downwards.
Trenching along the projected strike of the Tinago, Lalab and Miswi veins
was implemented to probe vein continuity. The trenches were spaced
approximately 50 meters apart and oriented almost perpendicular (NW to SE)
to the general trend of the veins. A total of 33 trenches with a total
length of 1,066 meters were excavated. Channel samples were taken along the
trench at 1 meter intervals.
Mapping and sampling of former small-scale miners’ underground workings has
also been conducted by TVIRD in Tinago, Unao-Unao, Lalab and Miswi. This
exploration program was initiated to measure the correct attitudes of the
veins, verify their width and strike continuity as well as to collect vein
samples. Samples were taken perpendicular to dip, and therefore reflect
true widths. Channel spacing on vein is 1.5 meters. A total of 89
small-scale mine tunnels were rehabilitated, mapped, and sampled.
Small-scale miners were evicted from Balabag following the issuance and
implementation of a cease and desist order in October 2012 by the
Philippine Environmental Management Bureau and the Mines and Geosciences
Bureau against illegal mining activities in the region.
Ongoing drilling is being conducted with four (4) rigs currently onsite and
two (2) additional CS1800 rigs expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Phase 1, 2 and 3 results have been incorporated into an updated NI 43-101
compliant Resource statement due for release in early Q2 2021.
The Phase 4 drilling program was completed by the first of January 2021
with 35 drill holes for a total meterage of 2,866.50 meters. The objective
of this program has been to further delineate the downdip vein extensions
in Miswi, Unao-unao and Lalab. Seven (7) holes were drilled in West Tinago
to chase high gold intercepts from previous drilling. Towards the northwest
portion of the Balabag Hill, Mossad prospect was targeted with a total of
17 drill holes.
The Phase 5A drilling program is expected to commence in early March 2021
and will include 18 drill holes for a total meterage of 2,000 meters. The
focus of Phase 5A is to prove and test the potential deeper orebodies at
Lalab, Miswi and West Tinago area.
For more information, please visit TVIRD’s website at www.tvird.com.ph.