There's a film festival happening in the city now, quite a nice one. I've been going to see quite a number of films. One I saw tonight, Bonsai, was especially good. It plays tomorrow night. If anyone in Panama has an interest in independent cinema I recommend it highly.
I wanted to see another as well, an Argentine film tonight called El Estudiante. Just before it was due to start a festival volunteer entered the theater to say that there was a problem with the film and it would not be shown. They left me no time to make any other arrangement. They could have alerted ticket holders sooner, but they didn't. Beyond that, every single film I have seen has had some sort of irritating issue regarding its projection: out of focus for a while, no sound for a while, off kilter somehow, the menu on the computer from which it's being projected is visible, etc., etc. I am not what you would call an avid moviegoer but I can tell you that in many decades of seeing movies in North America never have I encountered any of these issues in a theater. Here in Panama it happens with every freaking film apparently.
I mention this only to add to mjk's point. Not only is the mine in a jungle, it's in a jungle in Panama. Nothing much of anything happens like it's supposed to here, or at least like you'd expect it to. Much of the time I find this delightful. Other times less so. But for the shareholders who have never been to Panama much less visited the mine I think this is something well worth bearing in mind. Missing projections is annoying. (I wish the company would quit issuing projections but that's another conversation entirely.) Equipment delays are annoying. But for me, someone who lives here, the fact that these guys have actually pulled this off, that they are literally turning dirt into gold, is stupefying. I wish that things ran as smoothly and as predictably as they would if we were doing this in Bavaria, but we're not.
Please note that I am not excusing missed projections or any other shortcoming that could be assigned to management, just offering some perspective.
