Gold in Panama

Gold is one of the chemical elements. Represented in the Table of Elements by the symbol Au and with an atomic number of 79, today it is one of the most attractive minerals in the world. It is characterized by its malleable and inert properties. In other words, this strong mineral does not interact with other chemicals or compounds. It does not tarnish and is able to last forever while maintaining its shiny attractiveness.

Throughout time, gold has been mostly used for jewelry and money. For thousands of years it has been measured and prices are quoted in Troy Ounces and Grams. To be able to put the price of gold in perspective today, for example, with one ounce of gold a person would be able to buy a whole set of wardrobe. Gold has the extraordinary ability to store value in both times of inflation and deflation of the economy. This is the reason why many investors see gold as insurance. Its value is not necessarily dependent on the financial system. Unlike shares and bonds, gold has the capacity to always maintain its value. In short, gold is an insurance policy against economic uncertainty.

The Republic of Panama, located in the heart of the Americas has been proven to contain significant quantities of this mineral. Petaquilla Minerals, located approximately 2 hours from Panama City is one of the most developed mining projects in the region.

The distinguished project of Petaquilla is located in the one of the republic’s central provinces near Panama, Colon, Veraguas and Herrera. This mainly agricultural and mineral rich sector is quickly becoming a popular tourist destination.

Among Cocle´s top two main crops produced are tomatoes and sugar. Near Cocle is El Valle de Anton, an exotic valley famous for its golden frogs, Nispero Zoo and botanical garden.

El Valle de Anton is also well known for its local market held on the weekends where unique crafts, plants, fruits and vegetables are found for affordable prices. Artisans in the Cocle region are known for their woven baskets and curious pottery featuring colorful human and animal decorations.

Sites of archeological value are also found in this zone, with significant artifacts recovered from burial sites and ruins throughout the region. Two important locations are El Cano arqueological site and Sitio Conte.

The mining business in Panama, in the eyes of foreign investors, is a smart decision. The reasons behind this are clear. Back in the 1990’s when mostly Canadians obtained concessions for the exploitation of Panama’s mineral deposits, the economic situation was not at its best. The price for gold, copper and silver was low which made it difficult to build the infrastructure necessary to make the mines work. Then 9/11, the event that marked a new start for the mining industry in Panama happened. In March 2001 the price of gold was under $300 per ounce. In the following six years it skyrocketed to over $650 per ounce. Today gold  is at $1,447.50/oz.

Gold was not the only mineral whose price rose right after this economy changing event took place. Copper, due to the increasing demand from nations such as China and India has also become attractive for investors. All of this means that approximately three years after 9/11, mining in Panama became a good decision. Money started coming in and is still going on today. The Petaquilla Minerals project located approximately two hours from Panama City is one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world. President and CEO of Petaquilla Minerals, Richard Fifer encourages investors interested in visiting the operations to come to Panama and find out more about the potential opportunities in mining Panama has to offer.

Petaquilla Gold admitted it used chemical substances for its processes but also pointed out that there is no danger of a spill. 
The spokesman for Petaquilla, Carlos Salazar, stated that the amount of sodium cyanide used is minimum and it is recylced because it is very costly. He considers that the environmentalists that warned of a possible spill are “alarmists” since he assures us that there is a production system in place that avoids any time of damage to the hydraulic sources.
Salazar stated that none of the leaching tubs store cyanide, and that due to the constant rain production had slowed down but were able to get maintenance work done.

Panama, Republic of Panama

Petaquilla welcomes Mr. Sirotinsky as Chief Financial Officer

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — (MARKETWIRE) — 12/02/10 –

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (TSX: PTQ) (OTCBB: PTQMF) (FRANKFURT: P7Z) (“Petaquilla” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Ezequiel Sirotinsky as Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Mr. Sirotinsky, a Certified Public Accountant, was formerly Director of Finance for Silver Standard Resources, Inc., where he was responsible for the administration and finance aspects of their Mina Pirquitas Project in Argentina, and Administrative and Finance Manager for AngloGold Ashanti Limited’s Cerro Vanguardia Project, a gold and silver mine, where, among other responsibilities, he was involved in reporting and accounting management, treasury and cash management, risk management, business planning and strategy development, and tax planning.

The Company welcomes Mr. Sirotinsky as Chief Financial Officer. His experience garnered from holding senior finance positions within other mineral producing companies will benefit the Company in its next steps to becoming a mid-tier gold producer.

Mr. Sirotinsky replaces Ms. Julie van Baarsen as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. Petaquilla‘s board of directors and management would like to thank Ms. van Baarsen for her dedicated and attentive work and wishes her well in her future endeavors.

About Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. – Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. is a gold producer operating its gold processing plant at its 100% owned Molejon Gold Project in Panama. The plant utilizes three ball mills and a carbon-in-pulp processing facility. Anticipated throughput for the project during the first year of commercial production is estimated to be 2200 tonnes per day. The Molejon mine site is located in the south central area of the Company’s 100% owned 842 square kilometer concession lands, a region known historically for its gold content.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of PETAQUILLA MINERALS LTD.

Richard Fifer, Executive Chairman of the Board

“I love Petaquilla Minerals. They are going into production just as gold is headed for the moon.”

Bob Moriarty
Feb 11, 2008
Archive

I’m just back home for a week before setting out on another two-week trip to China and the Philippines. I’ve been in South America for the last two weeks and I saw some real barnburner projects. You want to pay close attention for the next few days as I write them up.

Basically, junior mining companies have been sinking billions of dollars into the ground planting seeds, feeding and watering the tender shoots and harvest time is approaching. You are going to be reading about a lot of barnburner projects coming to fruition in the near future. $900 gold, $17 silver and $3 copper is going to suck metal out of the ground. Juniors have been on the back burner for the last year but that’s going to change right now, my favorite chart, the XAU over gold is screaming “Buy me, Buy me.” Gold and junior metals shares are fixing to rocket higher. Back up the truck while you still can.

After the successful destruction of both Iraq and Afghanistan, our Beloved Sock Puppet President Bush is now firmly committed to the destruction of the United States and the dollar. We needn’t worry about the dollar collapsing into a deflationary heap; the Fed is totally devoted to its destruction under an avalanche of paper. We are going to go the 1923 German inflation route. You don’t want to get caught holding paper assets; you want your money in hard production assets. Only they will retain value as your money evaporates.

I’ve said it before; I like mines just as they go into production. My recent three-day stint in Panama showed me a way-under-the-radarscope gold mine just about to go into production. I hadn’t even heard of the company but you need to know about it and its sister copper company.

Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ-T) is in the last days of construction of a 2,200 ton per day mill with annual production of 120,000 ounces of gold at a cash cost of about $200 per ounce. Did I ever mention that as gold goes blasting higher past $900 that production is the way to go? PTQ expects to have their first gold pour in maybe April, maybe May this year. I was there a week ago and the pace of construction was awesome.

Petaquilla has a long history in Panama. The President and CEO of the company is Richard Fifer. He not only founded Petaquilla, he was the former president of the Panamanian State Mining Company (CODEMIN) and former Governor of the Cocle Province where the Petaquilla projects are located. You can’t get any higher connections than that of Richard Fifer.

If you want to see what a model of a good mining website should look like, go look at either the site of Petaquilla Minerals, the gold company – or that of Petaquilla Copper, its sister copper company. The sites are so much better than that of most mining companies, that I want to cry. You can actually figure out what business they are in and where they intend to go.

Phase 1 of the Molejon Gold project of Petaquilla calls for spending $40 million dollars US to build a 2,200 TPD mill. The mill is expected to be commissioned in late April or early May of this year. Petaquilla expects to produce 120,000 ounces of gold in the first year with an expected mine life of 9 years. Currently the mine has a 43-101 resource of about 1.49 million ounces of gold.

Phase 2 calls for expansion of the mill to an expected capacity of 5,000 TPD, costing an additional $32.5 million dollars to be financed out of cash flow and debt.

In addition to the expected cash flow from the gold production, Petaquilla Minerals holds 22.189 million shares in Petaquilla Copper. (PTC-T) Petaquilla Copper was a spin-off of the copper assets formerly belonging to Petaquilla Minerals. As you can probably figure out, the twin companies share management.

Petaquilla Copper has a joint venture on the world-class copper project with Inmet Mining. PTC holds 52% and Inmet owns 48%, putting PTC in the driver’s seat. In addition, Teck Cominco has an earn-in agreement with PTC where Teck can pay all of PTC’s costs to production to earn a 50% interest in PTC’s 52%. Simply put, Teck can earn 26% of the project. In that case, at production, Teck and PTC would each own 26% and Inmet would own the remaining 48%.

The copper world is in turmoil. Teck has already put the JV with Novagold at Galore Creek on the back burner due to skyrocketing costs of construction. Similar cost escalations are taking place in Panama. Petaquilla Copper announced on February 8 that the costs on the copper project are expected to go up to $3.5 billion.

We are in an environment of a dollar dropping in value daily. That is what makes costs of construction go up. What Teck and Barrick and all the other majors have forgotten is that the debasement of the dollar not only make their costs go up, it makes the value of their product, copper and gold, go up.

They failed to see that if they were going to use current and accurate prices for their inputs, they must, repeat must, use current prices for their products. Teck got caught short at Galore Creek because they were using $100 a barrel oil and $150 iron but using a far too conservative figure for copper and gold. I think Teck was using $400 gold and those numbers are simply meaningless.

When the value of your currency changes 10,000 times a day, you cannot use today’s numbers. Because they will change 9,999 times by this time tomorrow. You must determine future demand because no one has any clue as to what the nominal value of the dollar will be in the three years it takes to get into production.

Luckily for us, we know future demand is secure. Once China and India began down the path to creating a consumer society, there is no way back. There will be future demand for far more copper than the world can produce today.

I love Petaquilla Minerals. They are going into production just as gold is headed for the moon. But I love Petaquilla Copper because there is a provision in their agreement with Teck. Teck Cominco has until March 31, 2008 to poop or get off the pot. They can belly up to the bar and pay the 52% costs to gain 26% interest or they can walk. If they walk, Petaquilla copper now owns 52% of one of the most desirable copper projects in the world.

The Petaquilla Copper mine has a 43-101 resource of 1.45 billion tons of .49% copper: about 10 pounds of copper per ton or $30 rock. If you add in the gold and moly credits, the mine holds 15 billion pounds of copper. The mill would process 120,000 TPD generating about 515 million pounds of copper, 87,000 ounces of gold and 5.9 million pounds of moly yearly for 30 years.

This massive production would rank Petaquilla Copper as the 11th largest sulfide mine in the world, just behind Bingham Canyon in Utah at just the first phase of development. Management has designed the open pit operation to be scalable so the mill could be expanded in the future to process 200,000 to 220,000 TPD.

Petaquilla Copper is in the catbird’s seat. If Teck announces their intention to complete their earn-in, PTC ends up with 26% of one of the biggest copper mines in the world. If Teck opts out, one of the five leading contenders standing in line to do a deal will step into their shoes. In either case, PTC wins.

Petaquilla Minerals Chief of Protocol, Luigi Jimenez and the PTQ IR person from Vancouver, Mitch Smith, picked me up at the airport. Each is in their 20s. They spent the next three days escorting me around and giving me briefs. I’m thrilled at the wisdom of PTQ management at bringing in young people. Face it; the industry has done a rotten job of selling the value of mining to young people. It’s wonderful to see a company who recognizes we must be bringing in young people with their insight to the industry.

We drove out to the PTQ gold project and wandered around before jumping into a chopper and flying to the mouth of the Belen River where Christopher Columbus first found gold in Panama in 1503 on his third trip to the New World. I stood on the same ground as Christopher Columbus did, 505 years before. And this company is going to mine the same gold as sought by Columbus.

Both Petaquilla companies are the dream of Richard Fifer. He began development of the gold project some 20 years ago. The project had proceeded to the feasibility stage by 1998 when it was forced into hibernation by low gold prices. 4 years ago Richard put the project back on the front burner and in two months or so it will be in production. Now is the time to invest.

Everyone I met from the company impressed me. My only real technical issue was that of expansion potential, 9 years mine life isn’t much. I spoke with John Kapetas, VP of Exploration for PTQ about the potential for expansion of the resource. He is supervising a 40,000-meter drill program for 2007-2008 (not all the results are in yet). He just laughed. He has half a dozen high potential targets and feels confident that there won’t be any problem finding more deposits nearby.

The current mine is located about 10 km from the mouth of the Belen River, the western boundary of the PTQ project. If Columbus found gold at the mouth of the river, it didn’t come from where they intend to mine, it’s too far away for the gold to travel. So I am confident that the mine life will be extended. If they develop more resources, the expansion of the mill to 5,000 TPD will ensure production of over 100,000 ounces of gold per year even at much lower grades or proportionally more gold at current grades putting them solidly in the mid-tier range of gold producers.

Panama is one of the most favorable areas I can think to have a mine of any sort. I used to fly though the country 30 years ago on my way to South America and it was little more than a Banana Republic run roughshod over by the petty little bureaucrats of the Canal Administration. Panama wasn’t as much a country as a colony of the US.

Panama regaining the Canal has transformed the country. It’s a major international banking center as well as a transportation hub. The food was wonderful, prices cheap and women beautiful. If you like that kind of stuff.

Richard Fifer is The Powers That Be in Panama. He has created a franchise of sorts for mining. Studies show that Panama could produce 8% of the world’s copper. It has the capacity for being a major gold producer. He loves his country and wants to create both jobs and the wealth that goes with building a major mining industry. Everyone I met was fired up and excited to be part of such a great adventure.

Petaquilla Copper faces a major milestone between now and March 31st. I suspect Teck will realize that if they want to be a major copper producer in the future, they need to make a major commitment now. My opinion, unsupported by anything other than logic, is that they will commit and construction will soon begin and the project will begin production about 2012.

Investing is always a crapshoot during the best of times. With prices up and down like a bride’s nightie, it’s even hard for major mining companies to make the right decision. But buying a major gold producer just as they are going into production is about as hard as falling off a bike. I don’t see PTQ going up 10 fold in the next week but it’s an easy triple in the next six months. They have great management, a mining-friendly location with brilliant infrastructure and a solid project.

PTC is going to make more major changes in the next 7 weeks than in their history. How they go into production is in question but that they are going into production is not in question. They will produce copper and gold and moly. The only issue is who owns what of the project. It’s pretty much a no lose deal for PTC. I look at the Teck or no Teck decision as meaningless. If Teck is smart, they will write a check. If they don’t, PTC is in a stronger position. The project is going into production, demand from China and India is going to suck the metal out of the ground at some price.

Both companies are about to be advertisers and I own shares. I am biased as I can be. I think the short correction in base metals is over and given the terminal condition of the US dollar, I cannot think of what better investment is possible than that of a productive profitable asset. Go to their websites and review them for yourself. Each is very well done and communicates the very real message of the two companies. They should be commended for having done a great job for their investors and prospective investors.

Both companies are cheap and that condition won’t last long. With last week’s announcement of higher costs for the project, Petaquilla Copper got hammered. Anyone who doesn’t realize costs are shooting higher is too dumb to own the stock so take advantage of their stupidity while you can. There is nothing wrong with either the stock or the project.

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd
PTQ-T $2.95 Canadian (Feb 8, 2008)
PTQMF-OTCBB
94.2 million shares
Petaquilla Minerals

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd (BB) (OTCBB:PTQMF)
Intraday Stock Chart

Today : Thursday 25 November 2010

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (the “Company”) (TSX: PTQ)(OTCBB: PTQMF)(FRANKFURT: P7Z) is pleased to announce that, subject to all applicable regulatory approvals including that of the Toronto Stock Exchange, it has negotiated a non-brokered private placement of 30,000,000 units at a price of $1.00 per unit for gross proceeds in the amount of Canadian $30,000,000. Each unit will consist of one common share and one share purchase warrant, where each full warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company for a period of three years at a price of $1.45 per share.

The Company will apply to list the warrants for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, subject to meeting listing requirements.

All securities purchased under the private placement will be subject to a four-month plus one day hold period. Finders’ fees in the form of 5% cash and finders options equal to 5% of the number of units issued in the placement will be paid in connection with the private placement. Each finders option will entitle the holder to acquire one unit at a price of $1.00 per unit for a period of three years from closing of the private placement.

The full amount of the proceeds of the private placement in combination with available capital will be used to redeem 100% of the Company’s remaining secured notes balance.

About Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. – Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. is a gold producer operating its gold processing plant at its 100% owned Molejon Gold Project in Panama. Anticipated throughput for the project during the first year of commercial production is estimated to be 2,200 tonnes per day. Commercial production commenced January 8, 2010. The Molejon mine site is located in the south central area of the Company’s 100% owned 842 square kilometre concession lands, a region known historically for gold content.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of PETAQUILLA MINERALS LTD.

Richard Fifer, Executive Chairman of the Board

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. today announced that it has completed Phase 2 of its Column Leach Test Program on the ‘Oxide Gold Resource’ at its 100% owned Molejon gold mine.

Results show gold recoveries range between 72.43% and 97.02% from the on-site column tests completed on the Oxide Gold Resource samples.
As announced January 4, 2010, the Company has been working with METCON Research, an affiliate of KD Engineering, on the metallurgical evaluation of its Oxide Gold Resource. Working in conjunction with the Company’s mine site personnel, METCON Research has been supervising this metallurgical test program.
Highlights of the results from the Oxide Samples:

1.  Crush size of 80% passing 3 inch achieved a gold extraction of 96.81
    percent for the QZBX (Quartz Breccia) composite sample. Corresponding
    Sodium Cyanide (NaCN) and Calcium Oxide (CaO) consumption was 0.21 kg/t
    and 0.93 kg/t respectively.

2.  Crush size of 80% passing 3/4 inch achieved a gold extraction of 97.02
    percent for the 50% QZBX/50% Andesite composite sample. Corresponding
    Sodium Cyanide (NaCN) and Calcium Oxide (CaO) consumption was 0.44 kg/t
    and 1.57 kg/t respectively.

3.  Crush size of 80% passing 3 inch achieved a gold extraction of 92.40
    percent for the 50% QZBX/50% FQPO (Feldspar Quartz Porphyry) composite
    sample. Corresponding Sodium Cyanide (NaCN) and Calcium Oxide (CaO)
    consumption was 0.14 kg/t and 5.07 kg/t respectively.

4.  Crush size of 100% passing 2 inch achieved a gold extraction of 94.97
    percent for the Andesite composite sample. Corresponding Sodium Cyanide
    (NaCN) and Calcium Oxide (CaO) consumption was 0.34 kg/t and 1.89 kg/t
    respectively.

5.  Crush size of 100% passing 2 inch achieved a gold extraction of 86.20
    percent for the Saprolite composite sample. Corresponding Sodium Cyanide
    (NaCN) and Calcium Oxide (CaO) consumption was 0.23 kg/t and 2.44 kg/t
    respectively.

------------------------------------------------------------
Summary of Metallurgical Highlights
------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Indicated Gold Recovery
Composite Identification                                  (%)
------------------------------------------------------------
Quartz Breccia                                         96.81
------------------------------------------------------------
Quartz Breccia (50%) & Andesite (50%)                  97.02
------------------------------------------------------------
Quartz Breccia (50%) & FQPO (50%)                      92.40
------------------------------------------------------------
Andesite                                               94.97
------------------------------------------------------------
Saprolite                                              86.20
------------------------------------------------------------

The results summarized above have validated the initial metallurgical tests completed by METCON Research in their Tucson laboratory earlier this year and now confirm that the Oxide Gold Resources at the Molejón Gold Deposit are amenable to commercial extraction utilizing the heap leach process.

Richard Fifer, the Company’s Executive Chairman, remarked that, “These results confirm our internal evaluation of both the importance and the added value that these oxide resources bring to Petaquilla and our shareholders. We have been working diligently on this project internally and with METCON Research for the past 24 months and these results will now move us into the final engineering, design and construction of the Heap Leach Project, which is designed to complement our mill production.”

Phase 3 of the Heap Leach Project comprising final engineering and design has already commenced and is planned to be completed by February 2011. Construction of the associated infrastructure is planned to commence February 2011 and continue to June 2011 to take advantage of the traditional dry season in Panama.

These positive results now make available for further evaluation additional National Instrument 43-101 compliant resources of 96.7Mt at 0.21 g/t Au for a total of 641,976 gold ounces (Measured and Indicated categories at 0.1 g/t cut-off) and additionally 95.7Mt at 0.16 g/t Au for a total of 495,885 gold ounces (Inferred category at a 0.1 g/t cut-off) at the Company’s Molejón and nearby satellite projects. These resources are in addition to the National Instrument 43-101 compliant resources of 28.3Mt at 1.0 g/t Au for a total of 911,023 gold ounces (Measured and Indicated category at 0.3 g/t cut-off) within the Molejón Gold Deposit.

In conjunction with moving the Heap Leach Project forward into the final engineering and design stage, the Company is continuing its program of updating its global resources estimate. As announced October 25, 2010, this updated estimate is planned to be released in the first calendar quarter of 2011.

Mr. Rodrigo R. Carneiro, P. Eng., Director of METCON Research & Process Engineering of KD Engineering & METCON Research of Tucson, Arizona, is an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Carneiro supervised the metallurgical testing and verified the relevant data and technical information contained in this news release.

About Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. – Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. is a gold producer operating its gold processing plant at its 100% owned Molejón Gold Project in Panama. Anticipated throughput for the project during the first year of commercial production is estimated to be 2,200 tonnes per day. Commercial production commenced January 8, 2010. The Molejón mine site is located in the south central area of the Company’s 100% owned 842 square kilometre concession lands, a region known historically for gold content.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

PETAQUILLA MINERALS LTD.

Richard Fifer, Executive Chairman of the Board

Engineer Richard Fifer, Mr. Rodrigo Esquivel and Petaquilla Staff responsible for this mining project in Panama, congratulate the people of Chile.

EDITORIAL
Mankind just lived through an event that could be described as epic, after Chile, represented by its leaders and supported by the entire country, all its resources including solidarity, support and unconditional love throughout the world, by means of mass communication, managed to rescue the 33 miners with their stories, sorrows and joys.

From the moment you knew of the collapse of the San José mine in northern Chile, the hearts of men and women worthy and noble joined in prayer, a prayer asking our creator that they be alive. Two weeks later on of the bits tapped back with a message stating “the 33 of us are fine in the place of refuge”, one of several shelters that are part of the design of any underground mine, in which first aid supplies, food and water, tools and equipment are stored and are vital, as indeed they were, for the odyssey lived by our mining peers in Chile.

Once again it proves that things can be done well, even when the misfortune, due to force majeure or acts of God are the determinants in unexpected or undesirable situations and all efforts of the Chileans as a team and friendly countries that assisted, yielded the expected results, the successful rescue of 33 miners into the waiting hands of their families. Including our Bolivian mining brother, who had only been hired five days prior to the incident. It is expected that he and his wife are both saying that he will never work in a mine again. It is normal for his wife and himself to be saying that never again would he work in a mine. He got that job temporarily, he is not a miner by choice, so his sense of belonging and identity is different to the other 32 Chilean miners who confessed with pride to be the son, grandson, great-grandson of miners and would return to their jobs as soon as the situation is back to normal.
Voices of the world, among whom were leaders, politicians, writers and athletes, one of them David Villa of the Spanish national team and FC Barcelona, the son of miners from Asturias stated with great joy and understanding for the miners, how happy he was with the results after two months and 69 days of uncertainty.

The Miner, a publication of the mining project Molejón of Petaquilla Gold, Engineer Richard Fifer, the father of modern mining in Panama, Mr. Rodrigo Esquivel and company staff responsible for this mining project in Panama, congratulate the people of Chile, its rulers, the Chilean mining industry and the rescued miners and their families for this triumph of life and of human ingenuity in adversity as they cheered the rescuers, journalists, officials and miners every time one was brought to the surface: “Chi, Chi, Chi, le, le, le, the miners of Chile yelled. Viva Chile, mining and the lives of rescued miners.