It never rains in Southern California....

......but it never freakin' stops in Panama. Check out this rainfall map of the Coclé area, send in by kind reader 'JG' and compiled from Panamanian govt data. You see where 'Coclecito' is? That's right next door to Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to) and its Molejón trainwreck of a mine currently seeing its cup overfloweth (a cup filled with cyanide) right now.

Click to enlarge (gets big and easy to read)

It's incredible to think that this company had no emergency run-off tailing pond ready when it rushed into production early this year, something clearly stipulated as obligatory in the Evironmental Impact Study report. Irresponsible, thy name is Fifer.

UPDATE: A good overview of the story so far from the evergreat Bananama Republic that ties a lot of the strings together.

Cyanide spillage news, Panama edition (go on, guess which company?)

Yes, it's Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to). Here's the translation of this report in Panama's La Estrella newspaper.

COCLÉ: A presumed spillage of waters containing cyanide from one of the separation tanks at the Molejón gold mine, in the Donoso district (of Panama) run by the Petaquilla Gold company has been reported by its workforce and by Toribio Valdés, ex-representative of the San José del General administrative district.

According to Valdés, the employees said that, between 5pm and 6pm on the afternoon of last Thursday (Aug 12th) the dangerous chemical was spilled and entered into the Molejón river, feeding into the San Juan de Turbe river. Faced with this situation, the workers were evacuated from the Molejón camp number 5, he said.

Valdés said that previously the level of cyanide contaminated waters had spilled over from the tank limits, but on this occasion the containment walls did not resist the overspill and collapsed.

He added that the the construction of the containment walls are of poor quality and there is no "cutting edge technology" as the company claims. "We ask that the governmental institutions investigate, because the company always says these denouncements are false", said Valdés.

The other version

On the other hand, a source involved with the mining company's activities who was present at the mine until 3pm yesterday, said that everything was under control and there had not been any spillage.

He said that due to the intense rainfall on the Atlantic coast, the tanks used in the extraction process saw raised levels, but for precautionary measures the company has brought forward the construction of an emergency run-off pond that will probably be ready for use tomorrow Sunday 22nd. "Production was stopped and the risk is under control," said the source.

He also said that Richard Fifer, President of Petaquilla Gold, and other directors were on site to supervise the work.

Meanwhile, Edy Rosas, secretary general of the Industrial Union for Mining Companies of Panama (Sitraemio) said that the union was in constant communication with the company to ensure that all labour safety laws for mine workers were applied.

Carlos Salazar, spokesperson for Petaquilla Gold, told La Estrella that no rupture of the tanks had occurred, nor that there had been and spillage.

He said that the rumours of possible problems at the mine always rise during the rainy season and attributed the diffusion of these rumour to people that see inexistant dangers in any situation that, in the mining sector, are common and usual.

ANAM to investigate

Authorities of the regional office of ANAM (gov't environmental bureau) in Coclé said that they were willing to investigate, along with the public ombudsman, whether there had or not been a spillage.

Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to) implosion watch

On April 9th, LatAm's worst mining company Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to) published this PR that claimed the company had made first gold pour (even though it was under a governmental stop work order due to its manifold environmental violations and had no right to do anything on the site, let alone produce gold) and that, to quote the lying scumbags:

"The Company maintains its previous estimate that the processing facility will reach its full rated capacity of 2200 tonnes per day in June 2009."

So here we are in June 2009. Now for sure it's only June 2nd and we could give the company another 28 days to make good on its prediction, but somehow I don't think they're going to make it. Why? Because it's difficult to run a gold mine after you've laid off your workforce.

This report (Spanish language) documents the clashes between riot police and the 400 workers at PTQ.to's Molejon mine who were suddenly and unexpectedly laid off by the company late May. The sacked workers proceeded to block the local main road in protest until the men in green moved in with sticks and tear gas. Eleven of the sacked miners were arrested (including this dude).

"Lost your job? No money? Let me give you a ride to the station, sir."

So you gotta wonder, what with nobody working there and that, if the company is going to make that June deadline, yeah? Isn't it strange how these things never get reported by the English language mining media that is too sycophantic to say anything against Canadian mining companies working in LatAm? This company stinks, Kosich, Wheeler, Koven...write it up.

Petaquilla Minerals and Reuters; what a pair, eh?

CEO Richard Fifer bought 1.5 million PTQ shares last year in
a desperate attempt to prop his stock. He failed.

Ladies and gentlemen, IKN proudly presents Otto's all-time fave news report out of Panama. Here below is the report from Andrew Beatty of Reuters, reprinted in its entirety.

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LA PINTADA, Panama, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Canada-based Petaquilla Minerals will start production at a new Panamanian gold mine in January, a senior official at the project said on Tuesday.

The Molejon gold project will produce 120,000 ounces of gold in the first year, senior engineer Rafael Eysseric told Reuters.

The project has been criticized by some anti-mining groups but Eysseric said the protests would not delay the start-up date.

The engineer said there was "no risk" of the mine opening behind schedule. (Reporting by Andrew Beatty; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

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So why do I love this report so much? Well, I could dwell on that fact that the content is false and misleading. I could chortle a lot about that "no risk" quote. Or I could even talk about Andrew Beatty of Reuters who has a suspicious track record of pumping PTQ.to and is either lazy, incompetent or on the take (whatever way, he's a poor excuse for a journo and Reuters should be ashamed).

But the REAL REASON to adore and worship this report is the filing date, Wednesday 28th November 2007. Yep, the "no risk January" mentioned in the report refers to January 2008! Here we are over a year later and the company is still lying and cheating its shareholders and the wider investment community. And while we're at it, let's have an example of PTQ.to deeds (for that is how thou shalt know them). Here's a photo from 2005 of the Molejon site.

It was taken by Panama's environmental people ANAM to show the illegal and non-permitted logging that was going on at the site. PTQ had cleared about one hectare of jungle without asking and ANAM slapped a $10,000 fine on the company. Cut to 2008, and here's exactly the same area of jungle.

The company just kept on logging and clearing and now the exposed area is 20 to 30 times larger. Now does that look to you like a company that respects government authority and environmental rules and regulations, or does it look like a company that thinks it's above the law? And to get into context the barefaced cheek of these shits, PTQ.to is currently looking for legal loopholes and appeals to avoid paying the $1.93m fine that ANAM slapped on the company due to its continued illegal, anti-environmental activities.

That anti-mining groups hate Petaquilla Minerals is clear. However the point here is that pro-mining people should also hate PTQ.to and call the company out for what it is. It's companies like PTQ.to that give the whole industry a bad name and offer fuel to fire the illogical extremes of the anti-mining protest community. Not all miners are the same, and the majority that are socially and environmentally responsible should rise up, point their fingers at the PTQs of this world and run them out of town.

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