Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (fka PTQMF)

[Chileanmafia]

Absolutely agree - however the the majority of Indians in Panama do want opportunities and the Ngobes - the one's who put down Law #8 are the most marginalized people in the country and the only way that the government takes them serious is when they create a mess in the streets. This is why they always block the highways...

The problem here is the government does not know the Indians - so they did not know how to react to them and so when there are conflicts the Indians close the PanAmerican Hwy.

What worries me is there is a proposal submitted to the Congress of Panama by a small radical group of Indians (sponsored by the Church and the NGOs) to shut down mining - my fear is that since Martinelli slipped on the banana peel and got a spanking from the Indians on mining in March - he is a little gun-shy on the issue - as for the diputados - these guys know nothing about mining and since mining has little benefit for them - they might approve legislation that is not good for our sector.

Some good news - I heard that yesterday a group of Indians dropped off a pro-mining proposal to the National Congress and their proposal has the support of the chiefs - so hopefully this will counter-balance the law that was presented by the radicals who are bank-rolled by the NGOs...

I do hope that we get a decent mining law - however you never know how things will play out in this little Banana Republic of ours...