PACIFIC RIM ANALYSIS
Pacific Rim is an environmentally and socially responsible exploration company focused exclusively on high grade, environmentally clean gold deposits in the Americas. Pacific Rim's subsidiary PacRim is the owner of the high grade, vein-hosted El Dorado gold project in El Salvador. Through its subsidiaries, Pacific Rim owns several similar grassroots gold projects in El Salvador and the Company is actively seeking additional assets elsewhere in the Americas that fit its project focus.
THE EL DORADO PROJECT: is 100% owned by Pacific Rim through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Pac Rim Cayman LLC ("Pac Rim"), a Nevada corporation, and its Salvadoran enterprises Pacific Rim El Salvador, S.A. de C.V. ("PRES"), and Dorado Exploraciones, S.A. de C.V., inclusive ("DOREX"). Pacific Rim's advanced stage El Dorado gold project comprises a 144 square kilometre area located in El Salvador, approximately 65 km east of capital San Salvador. The most recent resource estimate for the El Dorado project was announced on January 17, 2008. This resource estimate tabulated 1.4 million gold equivalent ounces in the Measured and Indicated resource categories combined and a further 0.3 million gold equivalent ounces in the Inferred category. With National Instrument 43-101 in hand and a per-feasibility done in 2005 with good results the company stands ready to enter into mining operations once the CAFTA suit is resolved and restitution paid to it by the El Salvadorian Government.
Current Status
In July 2008 Pacific Rim suspend all drilling activity at the El Dorado project doing only low cost surface exploration work, minor community and environmental initiatives, security, and non-recurring expenditures related to reductions in activity in order to preserve capital and substantially reduce the company's investment activity while the El Dorado permitting issue is resolved. Latin America's political corruption and extortion which is a common thread in that part of the world shut the project down in 2008. In April 2009 Pac Rim filed international arbitration proceedings against the Government of El Salvador (the "Government") under CAFTA and retained the Washington, DC-based international law firm of Crowell & Moring, LLP to represent it in the arbitration and is seeking award of damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the Government for its multiple breaches of international and Salvadoran law for it's failure to finalize the permitting process as it is required to do and to respect Pac Rim's and the Enterprises' legal rights to develop mining activities in El Salvador. Pac Rim and the Enterprises have operated in full compliance with Salvadoran law, including the country's environmental, mining and foreign investment laws, and have met or exceeded all applicable standards while conducting business in El Salvador. Ample evidence demonstrates that the Government has failed to fulfill its obligations vis-à-vis Pac Rim and the Enterprises. The arbitration will be administered under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States and the Rules of Procedure for Arbitration Proceedings of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID"). ICSID is an affiliate of the World Bank and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Once an arbitral tribunal is constituted, the length of the ensuing proceedings may range from approximately two to three years.
In a decision dated August 2, 2010, at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID") the tribunal ruled in favor of PacRim, rejecting the all of the arguments made by Government of El Salvador Preliminary Objection filed under Articles 10.20.4 and 10.20.5 of CAFTA. Tom Shrake, President and CEO stated,"We are very pleased with ICSID's decision on the Preliminary Objection. "This is a positive and crucial step in the CAFTA process for PacRim. We are, however, reticent to celebrate as we believe a more productive outcome is possible for both the Salvadoran people and foreign investors. With this phase of the arbitration now completed, we hope to resume a mutually beneficial dialogue with the Government to resolve the impasse on the El Dorado project."
CURRENT OTHER ACTIVE PROJECTS: During 2004, Pacific Rim's geologists made a breakthrough on their understanding of the relationship between the bonanza gold mineralizing event at El Dorado and the volcanic history of the district. As a result, the Company has made a number of new gold discoveries on El Dorado, including the Nance Dulce structural zone and the Hacienda and Gallardo targets. The Company is now applying this geological insight to its exploration efforts elsewhere in El Salvador, (which resulted in the identification of high grade gold at the Santa Rita and Zamora Projects.
THE SANTA RITA PROJECT: is a 48.6 square kilometer (4,860 hectare) Exploration License located roughly 10 km from the Company's flagship El Dorado gold project where sampling indicates the presence of high-grade gold. The Santa Rita project provides excellent exploration blue sky within El Salvador that will both complement and benefit from the Company's on-going El Dorado exploration. The Trinidad vein, one of two known vein structures on the project, has to date been traced over a distance of 1400 meters in a northwest -- southeast direction. Seven rock samples collected across the Trinidad vein over a 500 meter strike length at the southern end of its exposure yielded the following results: 6.43 g/t gold over 1.5 meters; 14.59 g/t gold over 1.0 meter; 25.76 g/t gold over 1.5 meters; 118.29 g/t gold over 1.5 meters; 32.67 g/t gold over 0.5 meters; 12.64 g/t gold over 2.0 meters; and 59.52 g/t gold over 1.5 meters.
THE ZAMORA PROJECT: The expanded Zamora project comprises a 125 square km land package located 50 km north of San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. The project exposes high-level gold bearing veins with grab sampling by the Company within a small portion of the project area has returned values of between 0.01 and 27.24 g/t gold over vein widths of 1 to 4 meters. Of the twenty-seven samples collected, fourteen returned values of more than 1 g/t gold. Highlights include 27.24 g/t gold over 1 meter, 11.37 g/t gold and 173 g/t silver over 4 meters and 10.10 g/t gold and 3700 g/t silver over 3 meters.
CONCLUSION: It is very evident that Pacific Rim has a rich resource base and with the tribunal loss of by the El Salvadorian Government ensures Rim Pac will proceed with the development of it's resources. The Central American Bandits have lost and they will be paying restitution in many forms for many years to come that will open the road for smooth development of all of Pacific Rim's properties. On Friday August 20, 2010 Pacific Rim announced the agreement for acquisition of the Remance Project in Panama which shows the company is moving forward locking up as many resources in Central America as it can before the current Gold Bull Markets steps into full gear(see news release). Investors that hung in there and the new ones just now buying in will be rewarded handsomely in the coming years. With the combined resource base of all three projects and the government now at their mercy the stock price in this company will go hyperbolic in the next 12 months as investment money floods in.
