Dorato Resources (DRI.v) and its "harmonious relationships"

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.

The minor details that Dorato Resources (DRI.v) forgets to tell the market

Detail one: Dorato Resources (DRI.v) has the United Nations on its back now. CERD is a committee of the UN and the acronym stands for "Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination". Its job is to combat state-level racism, so it's only natural that eventually they'd be alerted to the defence the Awajun-Wampi peoples of the Amazon basin have been putting up against the Twobreakfasts government and the parasites that would "develop" the region (word used as loosely as possible) for the benefit of the almighty janquidolar.

Detail two: DRI likes to pretend it has shiny happy relations with locals in the Cenepa region, but sadly for the liars at Dorato, the local know how to use the interwebnetpipes too. Here's the latest post on the blog run by the local people themselves. This way you get their true voice, unfiltered and unspun:

"Despite the injustified triumphalist announcements made by Dorato Resources and Mining Company Afrodita about their mining activities within indigenous territory, CERD express its deep concerns about the authorization of numerous mining concessions without the prior consent and informed consent of indigenous people and about the fact that the conflict between indigenous communities and the Government has escalated at an alarming rate. CERD also requests information about several indigenous Awajun claims."

But hey...why believe the people that actually live there? Why not believe a bunch of junior gold mining executives instead? When has a gold miner ever been caught lying?

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): What locals really think of the company

Here's a link to a new English language blog set up by the people who live around the mining projects of Dorato Resources (DRI.v) in the Cenepa region of far northern Peru, part of the Cordillera del Cóndor mountain range. In the linked blog you'll find out what locals really think about the Dorato project.

Before you go there (and you should), if you're expecting to click to a badly drawn and emotion-ridden argument then think again. Theirs is not some fly-by-night protest blog that rails against society without any studies or research to back it up. I've looked through the case put forward by the Awajún-Wampi peoples in this blog this morning and it's backed up by official documents, well thought out arguments and (although the grammar goes slightly offkey here and there) a good and level-headed voice in the English language. It documents the way in which their rights have been ignored, the lies told by Dorato and the deceptions of the Peruvian government as it pushes an growth at all costs agenda.

So if you really want to know why DRI.v isn't welcome in its corner of Peru and how the government of Peru is riding roughshod over people's rights in order to push through its drill-baby-drill policy in one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world, go visit the site for yourself.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"Our war is a defensive one. Peruvian Company Aphrodite (sic) and its owner Dorato Resources Inc., the Canadian corporation which desires to exploit our natural resources without respecting our rights and our lives, says to their shareholders and to the public that Dorato “has excellent relationships with the local community”. Not only good but “excellent”... But from our place, we the Awajun and Wampis peoples have a totally different view."


".....the Peruvian Government decided to explicitly and systematically favour extractive activities to the detriment of both the conservation of natural resources, as well as the rights to life and health of the indigenous populations that inhabit these areas, without providing any technical or legal arguments justifying its change in position regarding the compatibility of the mining activities with these ecologically vulnerable areas.


"The Organization for the Development of the Border Communities of El Cenepa (ODECOFROC) has submitted on August 4, 2009 -and recently has updated on February 17, 2010- a request for “Urgent Action” to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), demanding that the Peruvian Government provide the international community with an explanation regarding its racist and discriminatory conduct to the detriment of the Awajún and Wampís peoples living in the border District of El Cenepa, near the Condor Mountain Range.

"The indigenous peoples have lodged this request with CERD due to the existence of an ongoing official policy to partake in socio-economic exclusion and discrimination, which is manifested through a variety of aspects and in a particular very conflictive context"

"The Cordillera del Cóndor forms part of the traditional land of the Awajún and Wampís peoples, as recognized by the Peruvian government on repeated occasions, including the process in the framework of which the proposal to create the Ichigkat Muja National Park was defined. Nevertheless, the State proceeded to reduce its area in order to accommodate the mining sector, introducing an intolerable risk on the land of the Awajún and Wampís peoples in a clandestine manner."

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): A total coincidence, of course

Yesterday this humble corner of cyberspace made mention of a horrendously bad pump piece in this week's edition of Northern Miner about Dorato Resources (DRI.v). Totally biased, unable to address the long-standing social issues that have now come to a head and only getting opinion from one side of the story, it was a shameful piece of hackery (I'd reprint here but NM get all bolshy and nasty about their copyright protection). It also came at the same time as the rise in DRI.v stock, which was full of rather dubious market action with a whole bootload of smallish "seller anon" "buyer anon" trades, all with the same volumes and coming within moments of each other all the way from 65 to 75c.....which then prompty disappeared. Y'know...nothing you can put your finger on in a legal sense but the typical HenksWhores kind of action.

So it was amazing, incredible, spooky and coincidental to discover the background of the IR guy over at Dorato. Here's the payline:

Steve Stakiw Position: Manager - Corporate Communications Steve is a geologist and has been involved in many facets of the mining and mineral exploration industry, both in Canada and internationally, for more than 20 years. In addition to several years in the field, he has research and finance market experience and was involved in the formation of an industry-leading mining information service. Steve's diverse range of experience also includes serving as the western editor of The Northern Miner from 2006 to 2008.

So, the rescinding of licences is ignored by the world of Canadian markets because the brokerage analysts and investment advisors were let in on the sweetheart 60c offering. Then the only coverage of the DRI saga in the main mining press up there is an abysmal pump piece in Northern Miner. And it turns out the IR dude at DRI.v is a NM old boy.

Are these facts somehow related? Inquiring minds etc...........

errrm.....toldyaso?

Check out this excerpt of the contents of last week's IKN Weekly on Dorato Resources (DRI.v) and the Cenepa region of Peru again, willyaz?

"....unofficial word from Lima corridors of power is that the fairly new and so-far somewhat toothless environment ministry, led up by pragmatic ecologist Antonio Brack, is keen on making an example of this area in exchange for allowing mining development enviro green lights in other areas of the country. The concept is that Brack can point to the Cordillera del Condor area as a place (rather minor in the great mining scheme of things) where the government has taken action and protected jungle areas. Meanwhile the mining and energy ministry gets its way in other, larger project areas such as the oil projects of the Amazon basin. The trade-off makes sense, but if it comes to pass it would be a killer for DRI. How sad."

Now have a look at what Environment Minister Antonio Brack Egg (great name) said in a radio interview on Friday (translated):

Environment Minister Antonio Brack called the decision by the Ministry of Energy and Mines to suspend the activities of Minera Afrodita (subsidiary of Dorato Resources (DRI.v)) in the province of Condorcanqui (Amazonas) "an answer to the request of the population of the Cordillera del Cóndor zone".

In conversation in CNE radio's program, 'Direct Dialogue', Brack Egg said that he had directly participated in the decision as it was a demand from the native communities of La Cenepa.

Any further questions? And no Eric, I don't want to work for you so don't ask. Just hire somebody up there that can speak Spanish one time, yeah? Or maybe subscribe to the Weekly, Eric. Only 25 a month.......cheap!

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): Who knew?

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, subscribers knew last Sunday. As well as the persistent warnings put up on the blog about Dorato (DRI.v) and the big issues it faces in the Cenepa region (and a section in a Weekly a while ago), on Sunday Feb 14th subbers read the following:

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): Don’t go there

On the blog on Thursday (10), I made mention of the latest barrier being set up against the mining activities in the far North of Peru that may affect Dorato Resources (DRI.v) and others in the ‘Cordillera del Condor’ region which backs on to the equivalent region of Ecuador, home to Fruta del Norte amongst others. Word is that due to persistent protests from locals the government is planning to rescind a declaration made in 2007 that took areas out of the National Park zone there and offered up concessions to mining companies (11).

That’s the general story, but unofficial word from Lima corridors of power is that the fairly new and so-far somewhat toothless environment ministry, led up by pragmatic ecologist Antonio Brack, is keen on making an example of this area in exchange for allowing mining development enviro green lights in other areas of the country. The concept is that Brack can point to the Cordillera del Condor area as a place (rather minor in the great mining scheme of things) where the government has taken action and protected jungle areas. Meanwhile the mining and energy ministry gets its way in other, larger project areas such as the oil projects of the Amazon basin. The trade-off makes sense, but if it comes to pass it would be a killer for DRI. How sad.

Yes, you too would have had the chance to get out at between 85c and 90c on Tuesday and as high as 88c yesterday if you'd known what was in IKN41. Just sayin'. And by the way, if you think New Dimension Resources (NDR.v) isn't affected by all this, you need to stop smokin' those fatboys. The chances of any mine getting built in the Cenepa region by any company at any point in....oooh, let's say the next 30 years or so....is zero zip nada zilch. IAMGold worked this out last year and definitively retired its exploration activities from the region. That's the difference between a serious mining company and a bullshit junior, y'see.

Mo' Dorato (DRI.v): Peru indefinitely suspends DRI's concessions

Goodbye, Dorato Resources (DRI.v). Now about to sink without trace along with the $15m of private placement financing it closed just three weeks before being told to close down operations at its only asset by a 'miner friendly' government. Didn't Gordy Neal tell you about the spot of bother they'd been having with the locals? Ooooh dear! Class action lawsuits, anyone?

Only about an hour after IKN's last post went out, Reuters today reports that the government of Peru has indefinitely suspended the exploration rights of Minera Afrodita (subsidiary of Dorato Resources) (DRI.v) in the Cenepa region of Peru. Some choice quotes from ministerial bigwigs too, with Prime Minister and cabinet chief Javier Velasquez saying (translated):

"The suspension is because the Afrodita mining company has not been able to accredit ownership of the terrain where it is exploring and has not been able to reach agreement with the indigenous communities and with the State."

Hey, you know those annoying dumbass wiseguys that go around saying "I told you so"? Well I'm one of them. Dorato Resources is one of the reasons why I'd never invest in Franco Nevada, but that's another story for another day.

Here's how Peru's La Republica is running the news.

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): Community relations seem somewhat lacking, perhaps?

Troubles are mounting for Dorato Resources (DRI.v) as the company's mushroom politic tactics with local comunities in the Cenepa region of northern Peru are now backfiring. Word is that locals are going to make a formal protest march against the prescence of DRI in the area in March (i.e. next month), which is already being likened to the protest by the same Awajún-Wampi protests in Bagua Peru that ended up last year in full scale conflict and dozens of deaths of both police officers and protestors.

This Cenepa area is remote as remote can be. If you don't have the backing of the locals in an isolated area of Amazon basin jungle then you are simply asking for trouble by going in and exploring. DRI.v does not have support of locals, as simple as that, and all the edicts passed down from an office in Lima aren't going to help the company geologists when they're taken hostage yet again (or perhaps even worse next time...these people are evermore mad at being ignored and they're a warrior race, too).

Here's a translated extract from this article in Peru's La Republica this week that gives more background.

Zebelio Kayap, President of the Organization for the Development of Frontier Communities of Cenepa, said two weeks ago that the Awajún-Wampi indigenous communities are tired of not receiving any sort of answer from the officials sent by the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

"We have asked them why they gave authorization for the entry of the Afrodita mining company (subsidiary of Dorato Resources) and why they gave out concessions in the Cordillera del Cóndor region when we had already signed an agreement with Inrena (Peru's official national parks authority) to create the 152 hectare Ichigkat Muja park. This was then reduced without respecting the signed document", said the leader, after noting that the Cordillera del Cóndor region is a valuable territory for the survival of indigenous natives and is also sacred as it is the home of the venerated Cerro Kumpanam mountain.

The natives of Cenepa reaffirmed their position: demand that the State complies with the act of creation of the national park area agreed upon and then delegates its vigilance and administration to locals. They also ask for the Cenepa mining concessions to be revoked due to non-compliance of consultancy rights established by the convenio OIT 169 as well as the withdrawal of the Afrodita and Dorato mining companies.

The indigenous natives of Cenepa do not recognize Afrodita's environmental inpact study, not only because the public consultancy audienced were held outside of the Cenepa region but also becuase they have decided to reject all extractive activities in the frontier zone.

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): Bad news for the bullshit pumpers at the can of corn....

...along with the company and Henk's whores in Frankfurt, too. I had to laugh this morning when I saw Dorato (DRI.v) being pumped in Canaccord's 'Morning Coffee' publication for the second time in the last two weeks. Those guys are utterly shameless.

This report tells the story of how locals in the Cenepa region of North Peru (where DRI.v is pretending to explore, along with fellow bullshitter company NDR.v amongst others) have taken five members of IAMGold staff hostage in the last week, along with three others from a company called Sierra Dorada (that's trying the same alluvial scam on the Marañon river as CMIN.ob). The eight mining staff members are being held by locals because they don't want any miners in their hood. Simple as that.

But the real bad news for the Canadian pump machine and the parasites that latch on is that IAMGold is pulling out of the area next year. apparently not for the "warm welcome" they get from locals, either (though it can hardly help). Nah, the reason given by Louis Gariepy, manager of IAMGold Peru, is that (translated)

"we are going to abandon the concession next year when the next license renewal comes around. We now realize that it (exploration in the zone) is very costly. This is the reason why it’s very probable that we will not return.”

So let's see.......Cenepa is very hostile and anti-mining, is abandoned as not cost effective by a serious mining company.....but pumped by a bunch of bullshitters in cahoots with the sleaziest brokerage in Canada. What say you, owl?

UPDATE: Oh look, somebody with 50,000 shares reads this blog.
Say it, owly:

What you need to know about Dorato Resources

• 1) It's getting pumped by the brassnecks at the can of corn. Twice this week the dog known as DRI.v has appeared in breathless notes in the 'Morning Coffee' publication, today's pearl using that wonderful "the next Aurelian?" line. Laughable.

• 2) It was the subject of this series of posts last year on how a gold mining stock with serious red flags is pumped to sheep. There's plenty on the subject of the Cenepa region in the series, including how Anglo picked over the concessions and handed them back. And the tens of thousands of landmines, too. But don't worry about your geologists getting blown up in the middle of the Peruvian jungle...doesn't happen often.

• 3) Right now, according to the Peru ombudsman "Defensor del Pueblo", Dorato is in social conflict with the locals around the project. And we're not talking about that lil village just down the road, either, we're talking about 55 separate communities of the Awajun-Wampum people that live there. Also, there is no dialogue currently going on between the two sides. You think they're going to get drill permits? Try thinking again.

The latest pump job might have something to do with the recent appointment of Gordon Neal to the board of DRI. Neal is also the VP Corp Development at MAG Silver, a company that has managed to screw up one of the better silver asset discoveries of this decade with inept corporate politics. He must have 'the Zeds'' phone numbers on his rolodex....

Peru and Ecuador: Ten happy years

nice plaza, nice city

Here's a story you almost certainly missed, mostly because hardly anyone would ever bother to report a good news story about LatAm in the English media.

Yesterday Peru and Ecuador reached the 10th anniversary of peace between the two nations that followed on from the Cenepa war and the ensuing diplomatic freeze. In those ten years governments have come and gone on both sides of the Ecuador/Peru border, but both countries deserve praise for the efforts they have made to nuture the peace, as today both countries really are close allies and strong trading partners once again.

Tomorrow Presidents Twobreakfasts and Studmuffin are going to get together in the pretty Ecuador border city of Machala (photo above) to celebrate the peace and goodwill, and to mark the occasion they will be accompanied by their respective cabinets of ministers. Otto sez "yay" to all this and applauds both countries and their Presidents for marking this 10th anniversary in fine style. Give peace a chance.