Petaquilla

Paseo Andaluz, already built in the township of San Antonio, one of the tourists landmarks of Penonome, province of Cocle, and Paseo de Los Angeles, that will be built soon, in the future will become the path or ways that will take locals, national and international tourists to the mystical Angostura, a place of great beauty, named by the regions Municipality as a tourism attraction zone.

Angostura is a natural landscape created by the work of nature at that point the Zarati rivers shrinks and its flow is turned into cascades at times, passes swiftly between a couple of stone mountains that form a small canyon, as a few Panamanian composers have described.

At the Angostura of Penonome, Castilla del Oro Foundation, led by entrepreneur Richard Fifer-Carles, plans to develop another interesting tourism Project that will provide total change to this region. In this area they will build gardens, they’ll have an area to show horses in their Spanish style stables, among other tourism attractions.

The tour followed by the International President of the Castilla Del Oro Foundation. The Duke of Veragua, Cristobal Colon de Carvajal was surrounded by pleasant moments characterized by the recognitions granted to him by the Panamanian authorities in the city of Colon.

The Colon de Carvajal, who agreed to lead this Foundation at the request of Eng. Richard Fifer Carles, arrived to Panama accompanied by the President of the Castilla del Oro Foundation in Panama, Pascual Montañes Duato; and the General Director of the Public Companies of the Autonomous Region of Extremadura in Spain, Jaime Ruiz Peña who was awarded the keys to the city of colon.

During the recognition event also participated provincial authorities, including Regional Directors, Representatives, Mayors, Deputies,  Governors, Representatives of the Colon Free Zone, the Chamber of Commerce in Colon, the Minister of Government, the Minister of Tourism and the National Institute of Culture.

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (TSX:PTQ)(OTCBB:PTQMF)(FRANKFURT:P7Z)(the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Petaquilla Gold, S.A., a signatory of the International Cyanide Management Code (the “Code”), has been audited by a lead auditor and a technical expert as part of the final process to become certified by the International Cyanide Management Institute (“ICMI”).

Companies that are signatories to the Code must have their operations audited by an independent third party to demonstrate their compliance with the Code. In this regard, Petaquilla Gold, S.A., once certified by the ICMI, will join only 14 other gold mining companies worldwide possessing this certification.

Within the next two months the technical expert will conclude a final review of the Company’s Molejon Gold Project to confirm compliance with minor recommendations prior to submitting the final report to ICMI for issuance of the official certification.

The ICMI was established to administer the Code, to promote the Code’s adoption and implementation, to evaluate its implementation, to manage the certification process and to make information on safe cyanide management practices widely available.

The Code is a voluntary industry program covering the manufacture, transport and use of cyanide in the gold mining industry. The Company supports the promotion of responsible management of cyanide used in gold mining for the purpose of enhancing the protection of human health and reducing the potential of environmental impacts.

About Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. Petaquilla is a growing, diversified gold producer committed to maximizing shareholder value through a strategy of efficient production, targeted exploration and select acquisitions. The Company operates a surface gold processing plant at its Molejon Gold Project, located in the south central area of its 100% owned 842 square kilometre concession lands in Panama – a region known historically for gold content. In addition, the Company has acquired 100% of the Lomero-Poyatos project located in the northeast part of the Spanish/Portuguese (Iberian) Pyrite Belt and several other exploration licenses in Iberia.

El Uverito beach

A number of projects will become a reality thanks to the Foundation Castilla del Oro in the province of Los Santos, with the creation of works designed to promote rural tourism in urban communities, including the construction and improvements to parks, among other facilities.

In the District of Las Tablas, the Foundation will boost the construction of a road in the beach El Uverito, one of the most frequented recreational swimming spots in the province; while at the same time it will promote the flow to the University Centre at one of the main neighborhoods in the area.

In addition to these advances, improvements will be made in the sector of San Domingo to the park of the community, and in the province of Las Tablas a natural park, one of vernacular character will be created.

In this same town, improvements will also be made to the Francisco Gonzalez Roca cemetery.

The Castilla del Oro  Foundation will collaborate to  assist with the improvements that will be implemented to the park of Llano de Piedra, located near the town of Macaracas, while in the main area of Tonosi it will help build the Jose Angel Garcia park,

In Pocri, it will provide support with the renovations that will be made to the Municipal Park; While in the area of La Concepción, a children’s and municipal park will be constructed;  In addition to the building of a ranch in La Yeguada.

The Foundation will also help with the creation of the Park of El Naranjal, in the capital district of Pedasí; as well as the refurbishment of a park located next to the Institute Plinio Antonio Moscoso.

The Castilla de Oro Foundation, led by entrepreneur Richard Fifer Carles aims to promote the sustainable development of these regions of Panama in order to generate wealth and well-being for its inhabitants, both now and in the future. With this plan, the region will become a cultural, first call tourist destination, and provide it the necessary infrastructures to achieve this goal.

With the first aim of recovering this region back into the international tourist map, the entity will promote “Castilla del Oro” as a place where visitors can explore history and the steps of the 16th century adventurers while becoming the new discoverers of the 21^st Century. In this region awaits an earthly paradise, a joyful land where the jungle, history and beach are embrace; a bastion of civilization and culture where time moves slowly and remains motionless to the passage of time.

The entity will recover the historical memory of the region, placing all folk traditions, both from first regions like those in Spain: from the music and dancing, crafts, regional costumes, religious rites and, in general, the folklore and character that have forged the idiosyncrasies of this town.

By Jenny Caballero

Communications Assistant

On April 14^th of this year, the Petaquilla Foundation, represented by its director, Dr. Leonel Arosemena, and accompanied by his staff, conducted a day of cooperation and training, aimed at the farmers in the communities surrounding Nuevo San Jose. The objective of this activity was to teach and implement modern vaccination techniques for cattle. A raffle of farm supplies was held amongst the farmers present, prizes included hoes, shovels, livestock pliers, clamps, ropes and Granusol food supplement.

The success of this activity couldn’t have been any better since lunch was offered to all who participated, among whom was the president of Petaquilla Gold, Mr. Rodrigo Esquivel.

Saturday, February 17, 2001

The Environment National Authority (known as ANAM for its acronym in Spanish) made up the environment provincial councils of the province of Cocle and the district of San Miguelito.

Such councils were installed through resolutions N°. AG-0003-2001 and AG-0012-2001 issued by ANAM and published in the gazette yesterday.

These consulting councils will canalize the environmental topics that affect the province of Cocle and the district of San Miguelito.

They will also be able to formulate observations, recommendations and proposals to ANAM’s   general administrator, Ricardo Anguizola.

For the Environment Consecutive Commission, the governor of the province, Richard Fifer was designated as president, Isaac Barnett, Eduardo Sotillo, Abril de Pérez, Ronald Rodriguez, Alex Stanle and Benito González.

The consulting commission of the district of San Miguelito was formed by the mayor Rubén Darío Campos, as the president; Gustavo Pinilla, Maximo Gomez Ramos and Artemio Rodriguez, and for the municipality council, Elsa Cajar, Hector Carrasquilla and Pablo Gonzalez.

On the other hand, the general administrator of ANAM published Resolution N° AG-0028-2001 of January 30, 2000 which established the fee collection (50 dollars) for the enrollment of counselors that do studies, environmetal audits and environmental programming and management.

PTQ

October 1, 2007

El Siglo

The Los Llanos – Coclesito road which is 28,3 kilometers, 60 percent reconstructed by the Petaquilla company, which will allow permanent communication to more than 2 thousand 500 residents of mountain regions of the provinces of Colon and Cocle, with the rest of the country, will be included into the National Road Network, as part of the Development program that the National Government carries out in the Panama Canal’s Watershed.

That’s what Rogelio Delgado announced, director of the Panama Canal’s Watershed, after an inspection and assessment done on the area by an interinstitutional team constituted by specialists from the Department of Public Works (known as MOP for its acronym in Spanish), from the Petaquilla company, from the National Development Commission of the Presidency Ministry and from the Panama Canal’s Watershed.

The building work, reconstructed with contributions, the National Government, for example,  contributed  1.3 million dollars and the Petaquilla company which contributed more than 2 million dollars, will benefit about twenty communities of the vicinities of El Harino, Llano Grande and Piedras Gordas, that will have more posibilities and facilities to commercialize their products and recive medical attention in the capital of the province, which will also allow them to have permanent and expedite communication with the rest of the province.

The director of the Canal’s Watershed said that the costs of the restoration works of the road had surpassed the budget, expenses that were covered by the Petaquilla company and where he took advantage to recognize the company for the valuable support given to obtain this building work.

On his hand, the general secretary of the Department of Public Works, Tomas Rodriguez, who participated in the inspection, looked satisfied with the works done, and pointed out that the company developed an excellent job, it is cooperating and providing maintenance to the road.

Rodriguez indicated that this inspection is preparatory for one that MOP will be doing in the coming weeks for about three days where they will finally assess the improvements that will be done to the road with the support of the company.

Una de las motivaciones que impulsaron al Duque de Veragua, Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal a aceptar la presidencia de la Fundación Castilla del Oro en España fue porque que el proyecto es una iniciativa “ilusionante” del empresario el empresario de origen panameño Richard Fifer Carles con la cual le parecía que podría contribuir con la historia y la memoria de su antepasado, el almirante genovés Cristóbal Colón.

La propuesta, que en aquel momento le pareció “ilusionante” no lo ha dejado de seducir cuando conoció a cabalidad los escenarios naturales que en aquella ocasión de presencia colonial española, formaban la Castilla del Oro y que a la sazón lleva el nombre de la Fundación que alienta el emblemático empresario que se ha propuesto llevar a los municipios una visión renovadora del turismo rural y religioso.

En cada punto visitado en este nuevo periplo que suma el tercero, y fiel a las creencias religiosas de su antecesor, Colón de Carvajal no ignoró las fidelidades de la historia pero si dejó consignado el carácter ético y religioso del almirante cuando bordeo las costas panameñas.

“No solo era el oro lo que movía a Colón, no debemos olvidar que su misión descubridora  iba impregnada de un profundo sentimiento religioso pues anhelaba que el oro descubierto sirviera a sus reyes para organizar una cruzada que devolviera los santos lugares de Jerusalén a manos cristianas” dijo.

Recordó que “en 1537, Luis Colón, nieto del descubridor recibió del emperador Carlos I la posesión y administración de 25 leguas cuadradas en aquella región por el nombramiento de Duque de Veragua, en compensación por todos los derechos heredados sobre las tierras descubiertas en el nuevo mundo y que habían resultado incumplidas por la corona”.

Agregó que “en seguida se puso de manifiesto la importancia de la Castilla del Oro como tempranamente había sido bautizado el territorio continental por el rey Fernando el católico y con ese nombre consta en la cédula de 1515 dirigida a Vasco Núñez de Balboa el adelantado del mar del Sur”.

A juicio del Duque “Cristóbal Colón buscó el acercamiento amistoso con los habitantes de aquellas tierras, las crónicas nos hablan de adornos que cambiaban por productos castellanos.

En la desembocadura del río Belén, en la región a la que puso el nombre de Veragua, tuvieron conocimiento de la existencia de minas de oro, en tierras del interior.

Como elemento vinculante, “junto al valor material del metal descubierto que permitiría a España financiar las expediciones exploratorias a lo largo del continente americano se valoró su estratégica posición.

La región se convirtió en el puente que unió al Atlántico con el Pacífico, al no hallarse ningún paso marítimo a lo largo del continente, salvo lo que obligaría a Magallanes alcanzar su extremo más meridional.

Lo cierto es que se trataba de un camino terrestre que debían recorrer hombres y caballos, la idea de construir un canal que pudiesen atravesar los barcos como ya había acariciado el monarca Carlos I resultaba inviable por la tecnología de la época; así se mantuvo hasta que el proyecto del canal fue tomado por Fernando de Lessep en 1879”.

El Duque de Veragua Cristóbal Colón,  presidente de la Fundación Petaquilla, junto al Gobernador de Colón, Pedro Ríos, realizan un recorrido por el Fuerte de San Jerónimo en el poblado de Portobelo, sitio visitado por su antepasado homónimo, hace 500 años.

La Prensa/Business

Sunday, March 12, 1995.

Gisela Vergara S.

from La Prensa

The Chairman and Chief executive officer of the Canadian mining company Teck Corporation, Normal Keevil, assured that the mining can help to create jobs and infrastructure, even more than the canal area.

The Canadian stated that, in his place of origin, the four most important industries are mining, forest engineering, fishing and tourism.  Each of these areas, he said, has potential to become an important industry for Panama.

In Canada there are 150 communities, with a population of a million people, that depend on mining for their sustenance, explained Keevil, while he noted that without the natural resources structure, the regions in the north of his country wouldn’t have developed.

Keevil participated in the mining forum that was held as part of the activities of the  mining group in the Commercial Exposition (Expocomer 95), that will end tomorrow, on Monday.

While referring to the mining project of Cerro Petaquilla, in which he owns part of the participation percentage, he stated that if the results of the mineral extractions continue to be positive, they hope to make a decision about the production of the mine in two years.

To have the production of the gold and copper deposit in Cerro Petaquilla about 452 millions of dollars are needed, a portion of this investment is provided by the operating company, “for which Teck Corporation as well as Metal Mining are prepared”, stated Keevil.

Another portion of the investment is provided by banks, with the appropriate guarantees as required by sponsoring companies.

For Keevil, the way the investment is structured will depend on the result of the feasibility study and the additional perforations that are made to try to define areas  where the mineral level can be optimized in the first years.

As the feasibility study for the Petaquilla project progresses, he added, approval on an ample variety of areas will be needed, such as rock deposit, road and ports, among others.

While nothing is certain until it is done, I have reasonable confidence that we can turn Petaquilla in a successful mine”, stated the president of Teck Corporation.

Cerro Petaquilla, according to the investor, has revived the interest in the copper deposit of Cerro Colorado in the province of Chiriqui, “that even when it is at an earlier stage, it also has the potential for the development of an important copper mine”.

LAPRENSA/ FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1995

Hermes Sucre Serrano

of La Prensa

Within five years Panama could export over $500 million dollars annually in gold and copper alloys which represents twice the amount from banana exports, stated José Montenegro, top executive of Min America Corporation.

Montenegro stated that, according to the feasibility studies of two of the nine mining deposits in the Petaquilla region, there is enough gold and copper for mining to become the country’s primary export industry.

The ex-secretary of labor’s statements were given in the context of the Mining Convention for Latinamerica, “América Minera 1”, which takes place in Panama, from March 8 to 10 in 1994 [sic].

The sessions include analyzing modern mining industry’s main topics. Experts in geology, mining, financing, insurance and legislation on the matter participate in the event.

The “América Minera 1” convention is sponsored by the Panamanian Mining Chamber and the MinAmerica Corporation.

Nitzia de Villarreal, Secretary of Commerce and Industry, showed agreement with mining development as an alternative that generates jobs and earns foreign exchange. She added that exploitation should be done without harm to the ecosystem, nonetheless.

The Secretary explained that it is necessary for mining to be done with proper technology, one that guarantees ecologic balance.

José Montenegro pointed out that wealth generated from mining would help develop those inaccessible regions as well as the communities of outcast Panamanians who live where the deposits are located.