Bolivia at PDAC, Sunday March 6th

PDAC kicks off in Toronto this weekend and on the first day there's an interesting looking conference scheduled that puts Bolivia in the spotlight. Here's the page, here's the overview presentation and here's the blurb below. If you're looking for an interesting sit-down on day one Sunday March 6th you could do much worse than this:

Mining in Bolivia
Bolivia, Ministry of Mining and the Embassy of the Plurinational State of
Sunday, March 6
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Room 714B

The Embassy of the Plurinational State of Bolivia in Canada, in coordination with the Ministry of Mines of Bolivia will participate in PDAC 2011 to demonstrate the mining potential offered by this historical mining country that boasts of mineral deposits in almost all its territory, most of which remains unexplored.

It should be emphasized that the Bolivian Political Constitution guarantees legal certainty and respect for private investment in this sector, which in turn has to conform to the current mining legislation in the context of having "Partners, not Bosses.”

At this juncture the government of Bolivia prioritizes the mining sector to establish itself as a pillar of the national economy, with diversified industrial development, from exploration to smelting or refining of minerals, complemented by processes of transformation, industrialization and commercialization, generating decent and stable employment, promoting sustainable development of communities in the mine areas that demonstrates that it is possible to have well functioning, technically advanced, environmentally sustainable and socially accepted mining.

The session will include:

2:55 - 3:00	Opening Remarks by the Ambassador of Bolivia to Canada, H.E Edgar Torrez M.
3:00 - 3:40	Presentation titled, Mining in Bolivia by the Deputy Minister of Mining Development and Metallurgical Production, H.E. Hector Cordoba E. For the Presentation Summary click here*
3:40- 4:00	Steve Busby,Chief Operating Officer of Pan American Silver Corp: A succesful experience of a mining company in Bolivia.
4:00 - 5:00	Questions & Answers

For the presentation summary click here

Contact Information: bolivianembassy@bellnet.ca
Tel (613) 236-5730 ext 223

All are welcome. Registration is not required.

Peru 2011 country risks, according to Reuters

Here's a good note out of Reuters today that sums up the three main risk issues facing Peru in 2011.

1) The Presidential Elections (Toledo featured as frontrunner...toldyaso)
2) Social Conflicts (with mining front and centre)
3) Drug Trafficking (the one nobody ever seems to talk about...i wonder why?)

Anyway, it's a good snappy report and worth your time. Go read.

Morgan Stanley forecasts 2011

So What does Morgan Stanley like in 2011 on the global investment scene? Well, in order its preferred sectors are.....

1) Emerging Market Currencies
2) Oil
3) Commodities
4) Gold
5) Emerging Market Equities

....and I'm happy to note that MS doesn't lump gold in with "commodities". Want to know more? Then download the PDF dated Dec 13th 2010 on this link and read all 56 pages, but this excerpt of the intro gives you some of the general flavour:

"Four economic themes underlie our investment view for 2011: (1) Solid if unspectacular global growth, with cyclical lift reasserting itself in developed markets against structural headwinds; early-cycle DM and mid-cycle EM have different problems and policies – a dynamic to watch. (2) Global rebalancing is progressing between EM and DM and is reinforcing the recovery, but the rising risk of inflation in EM could disrupt this balance. (3) The sovereign debt crisis has accelerated, but risks may be less systemic as Europe muddles through; the key is a credible holistic plan to stem contagion soon. And (4) the politicization of economic decisions; with politics affecting decisions on a range of issues the risk of policy error is high."

DYODD, dudettes and dudes.