TVI Pacific Inc has completed its Canatuan Sulphide Project feasibility study.

The study prepared by Norwest Corporation details the project mine life to be 6 ½ years at a 1300 tonne per day production rate producing a total of 51,600 ounces of gold, 84.4 million pounds of copper, 3 million ounces of silver and 21,400 tonnes of zinc.

Captial costs to bring the project into production have been estimated at US$23.3 million.

The Norwest study addresses the copper-zinc bearing massive sulphide zone, or lower portion of the Canatuan deposit. A separate plant will be constructed to process the sulphide ore if project goes ahead.

The feasibility study is currently being assessed and the next step is to plan refinement and optimization studies, including further metallurgical test work.

TVI Pacific president James Cliff says: "Management of TVI is very pleased with the results of the sulphide project feasibility study.

"The study shows the sulphide project to be very robust and a positive production decision is anticipated in the near future.

"Since the sulphide project feasibility study was conducted on a stand alone basis with no account being given for the overlying gossan deposit that is currently in production, an optimization study combining the sulphide and gossan operations is currently under way that will further improve the project economics.

"We expect that both the capital and operating costs of the sulphide project will decrease significantly when appropriate allocation is made between the existing gossan operation and the potential sulphide operation.

"Once the sulphide project is operational, we expect the combined Canatuan mine cash flow generated by both operations to increase substantially," james Cliff says.

The Canatuan deposit is wholly owned by TVI's affiliate, TVI Resource Development (Phils).

The Canatuan Mine is the first producing foreign-financed mine in the Philippines in many years. Mining and processing operations of gossan ore started at Canatuan in May 2004. Through 2005, a series of upgrades were made to the mine and mill facilities, which resulted in increased metal production during the course of 2005 and to date in 2006.