Richard Fifer

American consulting company evaluates Petaquilla’s clay project

With the purpose of evaluating the potential of the clay reserves in the Molejon Mining project, Petaquilla Gold S.A., under the direction of entrepreneur Richard Fifer Carles, through their subsidiary Panama Desarrollo de Infraestructura (PDI), contracted in 2008 an American consulting company to evaluate the quantity and quality of this resource in order to boost an industry that will be extended 15 to 20 years after the mineral extraction has tended.

PDI’s general manager, Jose Luis Dieguez, explained that with this project they would drive an industry that will require the hiring of residents from the Coclesito surrounding communities as manpower.

With this initiative Petaquilla Gold S.A. widens their projection and confirms their responsibility to guarantee the well being of the project’s neighboring communities well beyond the mineral resource.

Mining brings job stability to Coclesito

The presence of Petaquilla Gold, S. A. in Coclesito has allowed the population of this and other communities surrounding the mining project to have access to a place of formal employment and job security, said businessman Richard Fifer Carles during the Miner’s Day celebration.

“For the first time, there is industrial activity in this region that constitutes progress and hope for all who live in it,” Fifer – Carles stated.

He said that, as a company committed to the wellbeing of its employees and the public, Petaquilla Gold, S. A. distributes added value to families from this region; there is expectation for a better future for themselves and for their children.

“A more sophisticated society, better prepared for tomorrow’s world and in that gold of giving comes the important gold, because it is said that what counts in life is what one does, not what one has,” said Fifer – Carles.

Petaquilla Gold, S. A.s flagship project

Petaquilla Gold, S. A., under the direction of engineer Richard Fifer Carles, runs the Lifestyle Project, an initiative that has been a standard for many other mining initiatives on environmental management, which will serve as an example for other consortia.

Petaquilla Gold, S. A.’s Risk PPetaquilla Gold, S. A., under the direction of engineer Richard Fifer Carles, runs the Lifestyle Project, an initiative that has been a standard for many other mining initiatives on environmental management, which will serve as an example for other consortia. Petaquilla Gold, S. A.’s Risk Prevention and Environment manager, Leonel Solis announced that the company’s power distribution equipment has joined the community of San Juan de Turbe and Molejones. To this end, the company has allocated sufficient funds to fully carry out the project. Solis noted that this initiative’s progress and implementation is vital due to the projected increase in mining production in the coming years. revention and Environment manager, Leonel Solis announced that the company’s power distribution equipment has joined the community of San Juan de Turbe and Molejones.

To this end, the company has allocated sufficient funds to fully carry out the project. Solis noted that this initiative’s progress and implementation is vital due to the projected increase in mining production in the coming years.

Petaquilla Foundation supports culture at La Pintada

Richard Fifer – Carles, Petaquilla Foundation’s promotor, shares his region’s cultural values and economically supports with his contribution (electric facilities) to hold the first La Pintada Hat Festival. It is a new action by the Petaquilla Foundation on behalf of local residents in the province of Cocle.

This festival was held from May 13 to the 15 with great popular participation, where provincial authorities were also present, such as the district of La Pintada’s mayor, Federico Barahona, as well as foundation authorities.

La Pintada’s mayor, Federico Barahona, receives support from the Petaquilla Foundation for the district’s cultural activities.

TAGS: Gold, mining, richard fifer, tourism

Mining has activated the generation of small businesses

Like every activity that is performed in areas of difficult access, characterized for its marginality, the mining of Petaquilla Gold, S. A. in the area of Molejon has had a positive impact, not only in the generation of direct and indirect employment, but in the promotion that the creation of small businesses has given, stated the general manager of Panama Infrastructure Development (PDI, for its acronym in Spanish), Jose Luis Dieguez.

Through the engineer’s vision, Richard Fifer – Carles, PDI as an affiliate company to Petaquilla Gold, S. A., has generated small businessmen in the area, since the service demand has allowed the appearance of enterprising people that have installed their businesses, such as transportation services, to offer them to the mining industry.

In this way, the mining activity has allowed people that performed these subsistence activities and informal economy, to be able to have an employment and a stable salary, besides enjoying compensation and benefits and to pay contributions to the Social Security Administration.

Petarcilla project will generate hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in Panama and Colon

Petaquilla company spokesman Carlos Salazar said that among the additional benefits that the Petarcilla project will bring to the provinces of Colon and Cocle is generating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, increased availability and consumption of building materials for housing construction, besides putting into execution greater environmental programs.

Salazar added that the project involves the implementation of technology with Brazilian machinery and equipment from companies with over 45 years of experience.

A clay block is 38.10% lighter than a concrete one in addition to providing more comfort and being much cooler and having greater insulating properties.

Fifer Carles commitment, a visionary entrepreneur

Engineer Richard Fifer Carles, known as the father of modern mining in Panama, is a visionary businessman who, as the head of Petaquilla Gold S.A., drives a mining project that goes beyond extracting gold in the Molejon Area.

His commitment is to carry out a mining development that respects national and international environmental standards, anticipating the variations that can result from the activity.

As committed as they are with the mining exploitation, Petaquilla Gold S.A. also seeks the development of the communities surrounding the mining project, guiding and helping the people with social projects, without falling into paternalism.

For this, the company provides the necessary instruments in order for the communities to grow with their own efforts, while carrying out their activity with enthusiasm.

The Castilla del Oro will stand out for its spiritual tourism

BERNANRDINO MURBUA, mayor of SAN FRANCISCO, VERAGUAS

October 2010, Madrid

The Castilla del Oro Foundation has arranged for Panamanian authorities to visit Spain with the purpose of visualizing the tools to develop Sustainable Tourism.  Richard Fifer-Carles with his idea to develop the Second Generation Social Responsibility, and motivated by Spain’s excellence in rural tourism, proposes an exchange between the two cultures through the Castilla del Oro Foundation.  Bernardino Murbua, Mayor of San Francisco, Veraguas, gives us his impressions.

What was the purpose of the trip?

To get to know first hand one of the most representative tourisms in the world, Spain’s Rural Tourism.  To plan the best ideas and practices so we can implement them in our land with the Castilla del Oro Foundation.

Do you think these projects will benefit our country?

Yes, of course.  Learning always benefits a country.  We will work to achieve that.

What do you think about the Castilla del Oro Foundation’s project?

Without doubt its a great project that will allow the Castilla del Oro area to position itself in the world map of spiritual tourism.

Mining, contributions and perspectives

Coclesito Health Center, built by the Petaquilla Gold S.A. company to contribute with health improvement of the population that belongs to the district of Donoso, which has primary medical attention.

Nowadays, mining contributes 1% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Panama, with a value of barely $158 millions. Last year’s 16% increase was caused mainly due to an increase in the production of cement for the construction sector directed to real estate and the canal.

It is about a sector dominated by the non metallic mineral like sand, gravel, cement, clay, aggregate, and salt for the internal market and for the time being, there isn’t a non-metallic mineral production, despite Panama’s great potential.

However, there is an important investment increase in the exploration and development activity of gold and copper projects. Petaquilla Minerals started its commercial production in January 2010.

Likewise, it is foreseen that the first year of production will be of 2,200 tons per day, with plans to increase the production to 5,000 tons with the addition of a mill that will complement another three and a carbon-in-pulp processing plant.

The project’s zone is located in the district of Donoso, province of Colon, about 100 kilometers west of the Panama Canal on the Caribbean Coast. The open plant site has been implemented with a new road built for a 70 ton specification.

There is also the Cerro Colorado Project one of the biggest porphyry copper deposits in the world that hasn’t been developed. It is property of the Panamanian property through the Corporación de Desarrollo Minero Cerro Colorado (CODEMIN)
(Cerro Colorado Mining Development Corporation) and several mining companies have shown interest and are waiting for the government to put up the Project for bidding.

The deposit has a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 1,605 millions of tons with a fineness value of 0.63 % of copper in primary mineralization, besides 149 millions of tons with a fineness value of 0.68 % of copper in secondary mineralization, with a total of 11.2 millions of tons of contained copper. Cerro Chorcha

In 2006, BellhavenCopper& Gold Inc. (previously BellhavenVentures Inc.) of Vancouver acquired the Cerro Chorcha porphyry copper project in the provinces of Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro in the west of Panama through CuprumResources Inc.

Arlo Resources and CyprusMinerals, Bellhaven calculated an inferred mineral resource of 134.5 millions of tons with a fineness value of 0.50 % of copper, with values of gold and molybdenum.

The company established a joint venture company of 65% with EmpireMinerals Corp. of Nueva York and carried out a perforation program of 3,300 meters. The first results include 239 meters with 1.20% of copper, 0.23 grams per ton of gold and 6.1 grams per ton of silver (including 114 meters with 2.01 percent of copper, 0.43 grams per ton of gold and 11.3 grams per ton of silver), and 241 meters with 0.81 percent of copper, 0.08 grams per ton of gold and 2.9 grams per ton of silver. Recently the partners announced the beginning of about 3,600 additional meters of perforation.

Another Project is the Cerro Quema Mining, in Los Santos, an advanced gold Project in the Azuero peninsula, with a measured resource of 15.1 millions of tons with an average of 0.93 grams per ton of gold for a total of 451,400 ounces of gold, including a proved reserved and probable of 6.6 millions of tons with 1.13 grams per ton of gold. After 13 years of receiving the mining concession, the mining company announced the beginning of operations in 2012, with an investment between $18 and $20 millions to start building the infrastructure.

Nowadays there are twelve mining projects in Panama to exploit gold and copper, some of which are in a very advanced assessment stage, even when only one is in the extraction stage itself, the one for  Petaquilla Gold, S. A., headed by businessman Richard Fifer-Carles in the area of Molejon, district of Donoso, in the province of Colon.

El Almendro: Border between El Andévalo and Portugal

Madrid, August 2011.

With a busy history based on wars and border disputes, El Almendro is a unique area within the Andevalo Camp. Unknown and mysterious land for many, it hides the very origins of our authentic history.

In the Andevalo furthest to the west of the province of Huelva, between the Natural Park of do Vale do Guadiana in Portugal to the west and the towns of Puebla de Guzman to the north, Alonso to the east, Villanueva de los Castillejos to the southeast and El Granado to the southwest, lies a land known as El Almendro, where you can find an interesting municipality by the same name.

Due to its special geographical location, El Almendro has always been an open history book available to future generations.  Unconditional witness of endless disputes and temporary power struggles, El Almendro has built is character by surviving amid tensions and territorial ambitions of the powerful nations that have always surrounded it.

While it is true that its border situation has given it the spotlight and keys in the wars with our neighboring country, so has been the fact that it has had great historical importance as a means of communication between the Mertola zone (Portugal) and the rest of the province of Huelva.

Its landscape is dominated by a series of breath taking shallow mountains headed from west to east, impressive to all observers. The El Granado, La Madroñera, Tres Piedras, Aguaria, La Vaca and La Estrella mountains, whose maximum levels are slightly above three hundred and fifty meters have surprisingly beautiful hills and magnificent horizons that can be enjoyed from many of them.

In the western part of the magical Andevalo Field, El Almendro captivates the eyes and hearts of those who come to visit it.