- Six Properties Under Review - Confidentiality Agreements Signed
- Evaluating Advanced-stage Copper-Gold and/or Polymetallic Development Projects and/or Deposits
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(CCNMatthews - March 2, 2007) - TVI Pacific Inc.
(TSX:TVI) ("TVI" or the "Company") announced today that its Philippine
affiliate, TVI Resource Development Phils Inc ("TVIRD"), has signed
Confidentiality Agreements with six organizations concerning assets in
the Philippines that TVIRD wishes to evaluate for possible acquisition.
TVIRD's 2007 Philippine business plan contemplates consideration of
third-party acquisition opportunities involving advanced stage
gold/copper and/or polymetallic development projects and/or a large
copper-gold or gold deposit.
The six companies that have entered into confidentiality agreements
with TVIRD include Philippine-listed firms United Paragon Mining
Corporation and Vulcan Industrial Mining Corporation, both of which have
disclosed their respective confidentiality agreements with TVIRD to the
Philippine Stock Exchange.
Data review and field investigations on the acquisition targets have
been initiated. Formal due diligence reviews have been scheduled for
early 2007.
The Board of Directors of TVI has authorized management to explore
acquisition opportunities in the Philippines and has identified various
characteristics that target assets should possess in order to be
considered. Those characteristics include large polymetallic and/or gold
deposits having reserves or resources in excess of 500,000 ounces (oz)
of gold equivalent (AuEq). As well, any targeted project should be
sufficiently advanced to permit a production decision to be made within
one to four years of acquisition. Other characteristics include
prospective annual production capacity in excess of 80,000 oz AuEq per
year, and operating costs of less than US$300/oz AuEq.
TVIRD is also interested in acquiring a property with large-scale porphyry copper-gold deposits.
"Based on our platform at Canatuan, including the recently announced
Sulphide (Copper/Zinc) Expansion Project, we are now aggressively
evaluating acquisition opportunities," said Cliff James, TVI's President
and CEO. "We believe that the Philippines has significant undeveloped
mining potential; and we have confidence in the Government's Mining
Revitalization commitment, as well as the political and economic
turnaround taking place in the country."
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 dore. 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.
The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.