WE ARE FINISHED. Goodnight and so long
15/09/2014 - Petaquilla Minerals confirmed that currently does not extract an ounce of gold in Molejón district of Donoso, province of Colon mine.
The company, operating since 2009, warns that the activity is not profitable for two reasons: the low gold price and rising fuel costs.
Along with these explanations stand criticism from investors who argue appalling administrative decisions that have put the company in the current situation.
A group of shareholders created an online forum, and have captured him discomfort over the course of Petaquilla Minerals in the hands of the current management led by Richard Fifer.
The ounce of gold was sold last week to 231 thousand away from reaching $ 900 billion in early 2012.
The little activity in Molejón has taken its toll on the company's shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada, whose value has fallen 83% in the last year and stayed in 4/100 on Friday.
Jorge Obon, spokesman for Petaquilla Minerals in Panama, said the company is not bankrupt, and said that in the coming months could resume processing tasks.
"The mine is not stopped, what we're doing is stacking the material that had already been extracted and is ready to process, but at the moment we are not mining gold," he said.
In the financial statements for the first quarter of 2014, stated that the mining had 152 thousand ounces of gold deposits.
Between January and March, Petaquilla reported a loss of $ 11.6 million, compared with $ 15.8 million earned in the first quarter of last year.
The Comptroller General's Office reported that in the same period, the value of gold exports fell 98% compared with January and March 2013 when it reached 29.9 million.
To stay afloat the company agreed last May, with its Canadian counterpart First Quantum Minerals, the sale of assets of $ 60 million.
Of the total, First Quantum Minerals anticipated $ 32 million; and the remaining $ 28 million will be canceled in four installments over the next three years.
The transaction included the transfer of 483 thousand hectares and rights that had cash Petaquilla copper Botija Down Arm, Balboa, Colina, and Valle Grande Botija, or any other deposit located in the residual area of ??the concession area Molejón.
Additional, removed stone is purchased by Minera Panama, a subsidiary of First Quantum, which builds the infrastructure needed to launch its copper mining project, also in Donoso, due to start in 2017.
In addition to the stone material, Petaquilla is processing to manufacture tiles and clay tiles, a product marketed by the company Petarcilla.
Without specifying the number, Obón indicated that a percentage of workers dismissed in Petaquilla was hired to extract stone and clay.
At the peak of activity between 2011 and 2012, 200 thousand people worked in Molejón, while at the end of June the number had fallen to 620 employees.
This year has been steady street closures by Petaquilla workers. Report the late payment of employee benefits.
Last week the third meeting between the workers, the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development, and directors of Petaquilla was performed to determine how the company will tackle the late payment of bonuses and other benefits.
Despite the downsizing, Petaquilla spokesman says the same number of inspectors who monitor and provide treatment tailings tubs, where sediments and chemicals that result from the processing of gold deposited is maintained.
In addition to the $ 32 million already received from First Quantum Minerals, Petaquilla negotiate new credit lines with banks to resume gold mining.
This not only plans cover the cost of return, but to change some of the machinery in the mine that is worn by weather conditions.
"We will continue to take gold, the mine has a productive life of 20 years and will continue to support the community in which it has already invested $ 13 million in infrastructure," said Obon.
As for the draft law submitted by the independent MP Ana Matilde Gómez, proposing a moratorium on open pit mining and seeks greater environmental monitoring projects already operating, the spokesman said Petaquilla approved a new framework regulatory, the company will comply with the new legislation.
The draft No. 10 proposes that concessions open pit operation to undergo a process of international audits to verify compliance with industry standards.
It appears that not extract Petaquilla gold until 2015.
