Richard Fifer

Celebrating 488 years of establishment – Nata de los Caballeros

In commemoration of the foundation of the city of Nata de los Caballeros, one of the primary cities of the Pacific, the Mayor of the Nata de los Caballeros district gives homage of “Guest of Honor” to Richard Fifer, father of modern mining in Panama through Petaquilla. In this photograph you can see Doctor Leonel Arosemana, assigned by Richard Fifer who has been recognized for his important and constant support to the development of the region, not only in mining, but also through the La Castilla de Oro project which has started to change the image and tourist projections of the central provinces. Dr. Arosemana, key player in the social and community activities of the Petaquilla Foundation, receives from Magistrate Mereci Morales, Honorable Mayor of Nata de los Caballeros on behalf of Richard Fifer.

Tags: Gold, La Castilla de Oro, Leonel Arosemana, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer

What’s your pick on the next emerging market?

Richard Fifer is one of the Directors and founder of the Petaquilla Project, along with Joao Manuel current President and CEO are looking to expand their current potential.

August 16, 2010.

After what the market has been exposed in the last year with the bankruptcy of major banks and corporations. Investors are more cautious than before on where to put their savings.

It’s my opinion that the technology sector is going through a warping phase, which could lead to a future potential performance. Historically in the past year it has grown +14.63% overall. Technology is improving enormously, if we think we’ve seen it all, we will be amazed from all the new gadgets that 2011 will bring.

Another area that I foresee that could have great potential in the following years is the commodities market, having an overall growth of +5.2% in the last year. Within the commodities gold has had great acceptance with a +11.56% growth and safety sentiment attached to it. This has opened the window for emerging small cap gold companies looking to move their projects into production and also emerging gold producers to become attractive for a long term investment opportunity.

Locations like Latin American have become targets for juniors to explore. Panama for example, recently granted BBB- investment grade by Fitch, with an emerging economy and a pro-business government that has a pro mining vision, granted Petaquilla Minerals, Ltd. (TSX: PTQ), the approval to move their 100% owned Molejon Gold Project into Commercial Production, becoming the pioneers of modern mining in Panama. Richard Fifer is one of the Directors and founder of this project, along with Joao Manuel current President and CEO are looking to expand their current potential. Other projects of great importance within Panama are INMET Mining (TSX: IMN) flagship Petaquilla Copper Project that should be in production by 2014, leading the way for the future tenure of Cerro Colorado Copper Project currently owned by the government. Other countries with great potential are Colombia, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Tags: Gold, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer

What’s your guess with the US Dollar?

Richard Fifer Web

Weak performance on behalf of the dollar has caused a reaction on the Gold price to a daily high of $1212.20/oz of Au and a low of $1192.50/oz of Au

The US Dollar stumbled once again against the Yen and Euro Friday morning after reports for the jobless claims jumped to the highest levels in 3 months. All those factors have pushed the dollar index down 80.3, a 9% decrease. Some people consider a 10% decrease a bear market; you take your own conclusions on this matter if you believe the dollar is behaving differently. Weak performance on behalf of the dollar has caused a reaction on the Gold price to a daily high of $1212.20/oz of Au and a low of $1192.50/oz of Au. Certain investors believe gold will reach its record of $1264.00/oz of Au, but this will not be in a short term.

Tags: Euro, Gold, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer, US Dollar, Yen

GOLD exportation activity is reactivated in Panama

The Petaquilla mine confirmed by its CEO Richard Fifer, has managed to extract about 32,000 ounces of gold during these seven months, which averaged 6.000 ounces of gold per month

$ 23.8 million were generated in the extraction during the first half of 2010 however, in 2009 it was only $ 1.7 million, experts say these numbers reflect the operation of one business.
Chi Grace Kelly
PA-DIGITAL
Panamanian gold exports are primarily destined to Canada. With over 30 years of exploration of potential gold deposits in the country and surviving the ups and downs of international price changes, the mineral extraction of gold quoted today in Panama is a reality that, despite opinions for and against, has in just months, skyrocketed.
The revival of gold export from the country changed from 5.749 in 2009 to 33369.168 ounces of gold during the first half of 2010, according to the Comptroller General of the Republic, adding that revenues in this activity rose from $ 1.5 million to $ 23.8 million in that period.
The figures, according to the Mining Chamber of Panama and experts in the field is due exclusively to the Petaquilla Gold SA, operations in the Donoso district of Colon, which entered its first semester of commercial extraction of gold, and already pays royalties to the State, of which not all agree on the amount.
The Petaquilla Gold Inc. mine confirmed by its CEO Richard Fifer, has managed to extract about 32,000 ounces of gold during these seven months, which averaged 6.000 ounces of gold per month, and could potentially produce 10,000 ounces per month, once it reaches a point of working at maximum capacity, which would be in 2012. So, today the total extraction coincides almost entirely with the country’s export figures.
The country under the contract signed between the State and Petaquilla Gold SA, gets 2% royalty on sales of the company, which would result in $1.7 million, and the change promoted by the current Government of 4% royalties would be $ 4.8 million that the company would cancel the first semester
this year.
This figure is minimal, in the opinion of Felix Wing, Executive Director Environmental Advocacy Center (CIAM), which explains that “these royalties do not compensate all the tax exemptions or tax credits provided for in the Contract. “
In this regard, Rodrigo Esquivel, director of Petaquilla Gold SA, said that ” income tax would be paid when the investment is recovered which could be in 2015, but they are contributing to the country generating at least 750 direct jobs.
“We pay all rights under law for all out employees, insurance and taxes, worker-employer share “said Rodrigo Esquivel.

Tags: CIAM, Donoso, Gold, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer, Rodrigo Esquivel

Korean president interested in the panamanian mining industry

Richard Fifer Web

The Korean President has an interest in encouraging trade, security and technology cooperation at the government level…

One of the main issues addressed in the Korean president’s agenda, Lee Myung-Bak on his visit to Panama at the end of June, was the exploitation of mineral resources. The Vice President of the Republic of Panama and Chancellor, Juan Carlos Varela said that Korean companies have shown interest in investing in several major mining projects in several provinces; also participating in projects for generation of energy.

Among other issues, the Korean President has an interest in encouraging trade, security and technology cooperation at the government level by negotiaty a treaty on double taxation and other free trade agreements.

Myung-bak met with the President of the Republic, Ricardo Martinelli in this meeting they shared their interests in strengthening the ties that bind both nations, which range from political, through the commercial and international cooperation between the two countries.

During his visit, President Bak, was part of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of member countries System Integration Central American (SICA) and the Republic of Korea, held June 28 to June 30, 2010. On Tuesday June 29 the second forum on economic cooperation between Korea and SICA, took place in the Marina Hotel Miramar Intercontinental.

Tags: Gold, Lee Myung-Bak, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer

Canadian exec Frank Giustra argues for buying gold

Richard Fifer Web

Think of gold as the chicken soup for all the world’s ills.

Robert Lenzner, Forbes.com

Date: Saturday Mar. 27, 2010 7:28 AM ET

Vancouver native Frank Giustra has been in the venture capital business for decades. After a hard look at gold and paper currencies through history, he became convinced in 2001 that gold was poised for a long-term climb in direct contrast with a long-term fall for the U.S. dollar.

Giustra founded Wheaton River and began buying small gold mines. The firm was merged in 2004 into Goldcorp Inc., the giant ($27 billion market value) mining concern.

Giustra next founded Gold Wheaton to buy gold from mining firms that were primarily interested in excavating copper and iron ore. Giustra is also behind New Gold Inc. and Northern Orion Resources, Inc., which are both involved in mining gold.

Another Giustra venture, Endeavor Resources, trades in Toronto and owns 41 per cent of Etruscan Resources, Inc., operator of a gold mine in Burkina Fasso, another West African nation. Endeavor is in a bidding war for Crew Gold, whose shares have quadrupled from 12 cents a share to 49 cents a share. Below, Giustra shares his views on gold’s prospects.

Why should I buy Gold?

Think of gold as the chicken soup for all the world’s ills. It’s certainly not the investment of choice for Pollyannas or, for that matter, for 90 per cent of the world’s economists.

Gold’s price is influenced by numerous factors, including supply and demand, stock market performance, interest rates and geopolitics. But I will focus on the two factors that, in my opinion, will drive gold’s price for years. Both fall under a broad category of policy reflation.

The financial crisis that began two years ago was the result of decades of economic mismanagement and binge behavior. I say “began,” because I believe that we are far from out of the woods. Greece is just one of many financial time bombs lurking in the shadows. What of the PIIG (Poland, Italy, Ireland, Greece) economies?

Could another one of them be next? And what of the commercial banks? Have we seen the last surprise in terms of toxic assets come to light, or could more be triggered by a further collapse in commercial real estate prices?

What does all of this have to do with gold?

The system is still extremely fragile and any nasty surprise will be met by continued policy reflation in two categories. The first involves continued high levels of bank reserves (via printing of money). The second involves high levels of sovereign debt as a result of historic budget deficits.

High bank reserves will lead to high inflation down the road. High sovereign debt will lead to the deteriorating creditworthiness of many countries and eventual currency debasement. Historically, both the above outcomes have been a boon for gold prices.

Let’s start with the U.S. America has had the privilege of acting as custodian of the world’s reserve currency since the end of World War II. It’s a privilege that it started to abuse in 1971 when [Pres. Richard] Nixon de-pegged the dollar from gold. Deficits, debt and printing of money followed, and a 40-year process of numbing ourselves to moral hazards brought us to a near-breaking point two years ago.

So how did we respond to all those lessons and a near-collapse of the entire financial system?

We ignored them and implemented policies that will only serve to exacerbate the problem for future generations. Unfortunately, to do a proper fix would require courage and leadership that is not politically feasible.

Behind the problems lie deep structural problems with the U.S. and other advanced economies and with the global trading system as currently structured. It can’t be fixed with a band-aid remedy of monetary and fiscal policy, but that’s another story.

For the purposes of predicting gold’s price, we need only accept that when governments can’t make ends meet they are faced with two unpopular choices: raise taxes or cut costs. (Politicians) will take the third choice: print money, borrow money and let future generations suffer the consequences. This is not a novel concept. It’s been practiced to devastating perfection throughout history.

The U.S., with a $12 trillion debt, generated a $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 and will likely hit $1.6 trillion this year. Trillions more are projected over the next 10 years. Add to this unfunded liabilities of Social Security and an aging population and one has to ask how this debt will be serviced, much less repaid!

This dilemma is not America’s alone. Japan and Europe share some of the same problems. Japan has a gross debt to GDP ratio of over 200 per cent. What will happen when its saving pool runs out as a result of its aging population? How will it service its debt if it can’t borrow at exceptionally low rates?

How will these countries cope?

I predict that both the U.S. and Japan will eventually have to coerce their central banks into becoming buyers of last resort for their own sovereign debt, meaning they will have to print money. This will serve the dual purpose of keeping rates low to keep their fragile economies above water and maintaining their sovereign debt service at manageable levels.

What about smaller countries like Greece?

I predict with Greece there will be no default allowed, despite all the political posturing. The last thing the global financial system needs is a sovereign debt scare and all the policymakers know it. The bailout will come in some form that will serve to save face for all participants. The same goes for future candidate countries in Europe. Bailouts cost money and that means heavier debt loads for the Eurozone. As the debt piles up and creditworthiness becomes questionable, countries will print money to keep rates down.

The end result when you print far too much paper currency is that its value declines against real assets. In other words, inflation kicks in. Gold has been the best performer in inflationary periods. When investors become wary of sovereign creditworthiness and all currencies share similar symptoms, meaning there is nowhere to run, they run to hard assets such as gold.

That said, what risks do gold investors face?

Gold can come under short-term pressure in times of crisis when there is a rush to liquidity. In those situations gold can be just another asset to be sold to raise cash. During the crisis two years ago gold was briefly sold off in a rush to liquidity in the form of U.S. T-bills, which resulted in a dollar rally.

A second risk for gold is that investors will become fearful about exit strategies as the recent reflation causes economies to strengthen and interest rates to rise (something that is not good for gold). I doubt this is much of a risk because I believe economies are too anemic and the financial system too fragile to allow for much higher interest rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve (and other central banks) will end up being a buyer of last resort of U.S. debt if it has to keep rates at acceptable levels.

Will central banks remain big players in the gold market?

Central bank sales have always been the most unpredictable component of the demand/supply equation for gold. But as I predicted long ago, the day would come when central banks stopped selling gold. (Quite a few have in fact become buyers.) This past year was the first time that European central banks didn’t sell their 500 tons under the Central Bank Gold Agreement (in fact last year they sold just 150 tons, and I expect them to sell even less in the current year).

Since the U.S. closed the gold window in 1971, gold has traded inversely to the U.S. dollar. Recently, however, that hasn’t always been the case, and I sense a decoupling of that relationship. The U.S. dollar is just another abstract vehicle trading against other abstract vehicles. Gold and other hard assets will slowly trade as a group inversely to all paper currencies.

Tags: Frank Giustra, Gold, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer, U.S. dollar

Our Names and Technology

Richard Fifer, who by the way, this year organized the first basketball cup in his honor, is not immune from this phenomenon.

Dale Carnegie sales and human resources seminars show there is nothing more pleasing to the ear than to hear your own name being said, so it is considered a fatal error to not remember the name of another be they a potential client, partner or lover.

With new technologies one finds ones name, something so precious, is not as unique as we believed. For example, I personally found while surfing the net, there is a Guatemalan General in the history of  this neighboring country whose name was Carlos Salazar, there is indeed a stadium named after him.

In Colombia there is an excellent football player and in Argentina a former world boxing champion, while in Panama the Manager of the President Remon Racetrack all have my same name, Carlos Salazar.
Other than having my same name, we have nothing else in common, I have not ridden a horse in my entire life, not played football, I am not a boxer nor am I in the military. The same will happen to Mario Mendoza, Jorge Ruiz, Joseph Dusek or Owen Vernon, they will have their counterparts in the world.

The father of modern mining in Panama, Richard Fifer, who by the way, this year organized the first basketball cup in his honor, is not immune from this phenomenon. People in North America and certainly in Europe and elsewhere, who have the same name yet do not necessarily enjoy the same prestige or authority. This situation occurs to Ricardo Martinelli, President of the Republic of Panama or Oscar Arias, outgoing President of Costa Rica. Personally, I would not be surprised that among my namesakes, there are some with an implausible life and career. If we look on the internet, surely we will not only find Carlos Salazars, but also Richard Fifers, as well as the names of prominent figures of Panamanian society and of any society wherein the naming of a newborn is at the liberty of the parent, therefore a name is not exclusive property of the user as you can well see by surfing the internet.

Tags: Carlos Salazar, Gold, mine, mining, Molejon, petaquilla, Petaquilla Gold, Petaquilla Minerals, richard fifer