Value Microcaps Junior Miners

[steelpiston71]

Contrarian view on PTQ...

"I hope and pray those of you have done your due diligence on the stock and decided to buy it despite its many warts, rather than going in blind. I also hope you're flipping it rather than buying and holding. Here's a brief primer on Petaquilla with links to more fun...

The Leader (i.e. The Great One): Richard Fifer

*Did time in a Florida jail for smuggling 4,900 pounds of pot into the US.
*Decided to take up Latin American mining after getting out of jail.
*Bought the rights to the current Petaquilla property in 1987.
*Has owned this land for 23 years and, at least until now, made nothing of it.
*Moved to Panama and was governor of the provinces the company wishes to mine in.
*And best of all, he has returned to power! Hurray! After an absence from the company, it appears, according to spanish-language Panamanian sources, that the Fifster has returned. I quote the original spanish because it's hilarious. And if you're investing in shady Latin American companies, you can read Spanish right? I'm sure you aren't just buying these companies based off the touting done by Canadian assholes who think you can't fact-check them cause you don't know the language.

"Y a propósito de cambios, me han soplado que don Richard Fifer ha regresado al poder de Petaquilla Minerals (grupo al que pertenece Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Hidraulics, etc.) con la espada vengadora hecha el diablo, dándole palo parejo a todos los que cuestionaron sus manejos."

THE (Shaky) FINANCES:

* The great one, Richard Fifer, owns most of the company and provides it much of its finances. After repeated failures (more to come later) in getting a mine open, Fifer began lending his company working capital and has been buy more shares.

* Last year, The Great One lent his own company $40M of working capital at 15% interest rate and bought more shares in the 40-50c range while the company offered new shares at a higher price. There's a great investing scheme. Dilute the company at high prices, buy cheaper, and bag a 15% interest rate on the side.

* The company's net shareholder equity has alarming plunged from positive in 2007 to a small negative in 2008 and now negative $70M in 2009. Ouch. Check out the balance sheet (you do actually look at these, right?): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=PTQMF.OB....

THE COPPER FIASCO:

* Petaquilla also used to own a copper project. Petaquilla's sister company, Petaquilla Copper offered warrants to outside investors at near C$4 a share. They went public and saw the stock dive. Luckily, copper was still booming so they were able to unload the copper project to Teck and Inmet at $2.20 a share.

* Petaquilla and Teck got involved in dueling lawsuits after Petaquilla began illegally mining the mine despite not having the approval of Inmet and Teck which together owned half the project.

* After selling the copper mine, it's value collapsed after Inmet reassessed it. Teck wrote off its share as worthless (that's right a C$500M copper company bought whose value turned into C$0), and Inmet still is seeking, thus far, unsuccessfully, seeking a partner to pony up so cash so that Inmet can turn it's lame chunk of land into a copper mine.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/92824-in....

* The same people running that failed copper project are running Petaquilla Minerals.

THE FALSE PROMISES:

Petaquilla said it would begin ramping up operations in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and finally began to get small amounts of gold in 2009. Check out this fun promise from Petaquilla's VP back in 2007 where he claimed in an interview that the company would be getting 120k ounces a year in 2008. Actual output: 0k ounces.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/58235-pe....

Petaquilla also claims that it is following environmental laws and it has rights to drill in its property. It has neither. In fact, is has violated Panama's constitution by denying people's rights to clean water and when fined by the government failed to pay those fines. (More on the abuse of Panamanian laws here (Spanish): http://www.ciampanama.org/comunicacion-i....

and English here: http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/08....

THE INSIDER TRADING:

* Not content with collecting usurious 15% interest from his own company, Fifer also trades on insider information. http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_11/iss....

I really could go on, but I don't care to. Long story short, the stock's off 75% in a couple of years, the same management's copper mine was a huge bust, the company doesn't have permits for Molejon mine, Fifer is a shady man who has a criminal track record and has owned the land Molejon is on for 23 years without building a successful mine.

One more all-around good post in dissecting this company:

http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/01....

P.S. The land Petaquilla has claims to is needed for the proposed Panama Canal expansion, so don't be surprised if the government of Panama seizes it by eminent domain.

Buenaventura to all. Good luck -- especially if you invest in this turd, as you'll need it.

Adiós, I'm out."

http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=135459&ord=1963206#1963206