NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY MARKETWIRE
FOR: Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.
TSX SYMBOL: PTQ
OTC Bulletin Board SYMBOL: PTQMF
FRANKFURT SYMBOL: P7Z
June 8, 2011
Petaquilla Subsidiary Appoints Chief Executive Officer
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 8, 2011) - Petaquilla Minerals
Ltd. (the "Company" or "Petaquilla")
(TSX:PTQ)(OTCBB:PTQMF)(FRANKFURT:P7Z) is pleased to announce that its
subsidiary, Panamanian Development and Infrastructure Ltd. ("PDI"),
has appointed Jose Luis Dieguez as its Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Dieguez joined the Company's infrastructure subsidiary, Panama
Desarrollo de Infraestructuras, S.A. ("PDI Panama"), in February 2010
as Head of Finance and Business Development and has served as its General
Manager since August 2010. Prior to joining PDI Panama, Mr. Dieguez was a
Business Associate at Clairfield Partners (Spain) being involved in several
national and cross-border M&A transactions providing financial and strategy
consulting services. He is an Engineer in Telecommunications and holds a
Master's degree in Corporate Finance and Law from ESADE, Spain, and an
International Diploma with honours in BA from UC Berkeley.
Under Mr. Dieguez's guidance and leadership, PDI Panama has moved from a
Petaquilla service provider to a fully functional independent division
developing its own business portfolio of projects in the mining and
infrastructure sectors in Panama and, as CEO of PDI, he will continue to lead
PDI Panama's expansion in both size and scope of their services.
The recently announced contracts for PDI Panama to construct a bypass road for
Minera Panama, S.A. ("MPSA"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Inmet
Mining Corporation, to provide MPSA with direct access to their copper project
and to sell 1.8 million cubic metres of construction aggregate to a Panamanian
construction company are key components of PDI Panama's strategic action
plan. In this sense, PDI Panama has contracts and agreements with a combined
value of approximately US$72 million.
With its increased capacity from heavy equipment acquired through recently
established leasing facilities with Global Bank and Caterpillar, additional PDI
Panama objectives are:
/T/
-- to provide the Company's gold mining operation with the capacity needed
to increase its daily mining rate to 40,000t as required for the
construction and stock pile of ore for heap leach operations;
-- to extract and deliver construction grade aggregates from the Company's
Molejon gold mine;
-- to mobilize additional resources for the Company's ongoing exploration
projects at its satellite concessions;
-- to expand its operations at the Company's Molejon gold mine beyond its
present pre-stripping activities, tailings constructions and equipment
maintenance; and
-- to advance its Petarcilla clay project, the manufacture and sale of
construction materials, such as high strength construction bricks, with
Molejon as its source for material.
/T/
PDI Panama's business plan represents a series of actions designed to
accelerate its growth and productivity strategies all to increase shareholder
value. With contracts secured and PDI Panama's business expanding, the
Company intends, by the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 2012, to present a
Plan of Arrangement, or some other tax favourable mechanism, to the Toronto
Stock Exchange for approval with subsequent submission to Petaquilla's
shareholders, to spin out PDI. The exchange ratio for the proposed future
spin-out, as previously announced, will be one (1) share of PDI for every four
(4) shares of Petaquilla. Longer term objectives for the second quarter of
Fiscal 2013 include an application by PDI for stock exchange listing.
About Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.
Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. is a gold producer operating its gold processing plant
at its 100% owned Molejon Gold Project in Panama. The Molejon mine site is
located in the south central area of the Company's 100% owned 842 square
kilometre concession lands, a region known historically for gold content.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of
PETAQUILLA MINERALS LTD.
Joao C. Manuel, Chief Executive Officer
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.
Joao C. Manuel
Chief Executive Officer
(604) 694-0021 or Toll free: 1-877-694-0021
(604) 694-0063
No stock exchange has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.
INDUSTRY: Manufacturing and Production - Mining and Metals
SUBJECT: COF
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