On April 20th, the country manager for Dorato Resources (DRI.v) in Peru (via its wholly owned subsidiary Minera Afrodita), Jorge Bedoya, piped up in the Peruvian press about how things were going at their project up in the Cenepa region, North of the country. Here's a translated extract from this report in La Republica:
"...he assured that the relationship between the company and the indigenous communities in the Cenepa district is harmonious, and that Afrodita is in exploration stage and hoped to discover important gold mineralizaion in the zone."
Hmmm...all sounds good until you find out just how harmonious things really are, and the way to find that out is to hear the locals' side to the story. La Republica this week printed this right to reply written by leader of the local Awajún people and President of the Organization for the Development of Cenepa Frontier Communities (ODECOFROC) Zebelio Kayap (and translated by your humble scribe, moneyline in red):
Dear Sir,
In the April 20th edition, you published declarations by Jorge Bedoya Torrico, general manager of Minera Afrodita, that once again alleged that the company maintains a harmonious relationship with the indigenous communities of the Cenepa, a declaration that I see fit to refute once again by referencing the Declaration of the Annual General Congress of the Cenepa Communities dated November 26 2010 in which the entire population denounced unauthorized entry [by the company] and continued violation of our consulting right by Minera Afrodita on its concessions. The community has reported the incidents to Odeofroc, expressing that it is not in agreement with mining activity on its territory, that it will no authorize exploration work and that the company respects the Convenant 169 of the OIT (ottonote; the internationally recognized agreement that gives communities consultation rights before mining activity begins and to which Peru is a signed member). The present conflict between the Cenepa communities and Minera Afrodita is continually reported, month after month, by the Defender of the People State Ombudsman. A harmonious relationship cannot exist while Minera Afrodita continues to violate the respective national and international laws.
Zebelio Kayap Jempekit
Document number 40471527
And thus the letter to the editor ends, but then La Republica's editorial adds its own line or two below:
The abuse of this mining company against native communties of the Alto Cenepa region has been documented by various sources.
Harmonious?
Oh and the other relationship Dorato (DRI.v) is having harmony problems with is that of the company and its shareholders. We present Exhibit A, the DRI.v 2011 price chart:
And just to think that Eric Sprott and Pierre Lassonde got suckered by these snake oil salesmen too. DYODD, dude.