Panama's stance on coal further threatens INMET's finances.

While Lundin has advised its shareholders against the Equinox deal, placing INMET in a more favorable position, there is a new wrench in the Cobre Panama project. The Panamanian government has ruled that instead of the coal-powered plant which INMET had planned to build to supply the open pit mine with energy, fuel from natural gas should be used. The company says that this change will not be a difficult one to make, but it highlights the complexities of developing a project this large in a country with relatively few mining projects.


Read the full story here: Globe and Mail: Panama ruling poses hurdle to Inmet-Lundin merger.


Shareholders will vote on the INMET-Lundin merger on April 4th. Lundin has said that the rejection of the coal plant may alter the agreement between the two Canadian companies. INMET's 4.3 billion dollar project depends heavily on the success of this deal.

The Financial Post published a similar article: New twist tempers Lundin's merger lust.

The most interesting addition to the news story was a quote from President Ricardo Martinelli in reference to his support of mining development: “I’m not interested in the least, not even a little bit or a tiny bit in mining."

Given INMET's public reassurance that their copper project is supported and will bring much needed development to the region in Cocle Province, and to the country as a whole, the President's recent statements are striking.

Eric Jackson of the Panama News puzzles over the possible reasons why the current Panamanian administration has suddenly chosen to enforce Panamanian environmental regulations: Reported regulatory snag slows copper mine project.

INMET's Cobre Panama Project Under Siege

The recent decision by the Panamanian government to repeal Law 8 will block Korean and Singaporean investments in INMET's Cobre Panama project. The law would have allowed foreign governments to directly invest in Panama's mining sector. This was of critical importance to INMET which had entered into agreements with LS-Nikko Copper Inc. of Korea and Temasek Holdings of Singapore to raise the capital needed to develop the Cobre Panama project. La Prensa reported that last summer the Korean government had specifically asked President Martinelli government to make the legislative reforms needed to allow LS-Nikko to invest in Cobre Panama. Four days after the passing of Law 8, Martinelli called his Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak to inform him that Panama was now open for business.

Following the Panamanian government's reversal, INMET issued the following press release to assure investors that the revocation of Law 8 would not affect the Cobre Panama project. It reads: "Contract-Law 9 of February 26, 1997, which governs development of the Cobre Panama project, is not affected by the intended repeal of Law 8, and Inmet therefore does not expect that its ability to continue with development of the Cobre Panama project will be adversely affected as a result." This is in fact true but the release does not mention the impact the revocation of Law 8 will have on financing the project.

Meanwhile La Estrella reports that local campesinos and indigenous Ngobe have maintained their blockade of the access road that leads both to Petaquilla Gold's Molejon mine and INMET's Cobre Panama project. Protesters denounced assaults committed against them by security personnel. They did not know if they were employees of Petaquilla Gold or INMET's subsidiary Minera Panama. Despite the violence they made clear their determination to stop the operations of both projects and make their territory free of mining.

Another Cautious Victory in Panamá

Today, President Ricardo Martinelli announced that the government will repeal Ley 8, the recent proposed changes to the Panamanian mining code. He made a visit to San Felix, the nucleus of the protests against the reforms, and cited the fact that 75% of Panamanians are against mining development.

President arrived in San Felix, announces repeal of Ley 8.


Raisa Banfield, a well known environmentalist and director of la Fundación Panamá Sostenible told the newspaper La Estrella, a Panamanian newspaper, that the repeal was a good first step. She warned that a closer look at the mining laws is needed to make sure that the country´s wealth does not continue to leave the country with foreign mining companies.

Ngobes win law protecting their territory from mining

Negotiations between the Coordinadora por la Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y el Derecho del Pueblo Ngäbé Buglé and the government of Panama concluded yesterday evening. The government promised to pass a new law that would prohibit mining and protect water resources within the Comarca Ngäbé Buglé. It also committed to an article by article review of the controversial Law 8 that reformed the country's mining code and the liberation of protesters arrested in recent clashes with police.

Nation-wide protests against mining turned violent this weekend as the Policia Nacional used tear gas, water cannons and shotguns to break up blockades of the Inter-American highway. Twelve people were admitted to hospital with buckshot wounds. In San Felix, Chiriqui, witnesses condemned the police attacks on bystanders, destruction of property and house-to-house raids.

http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2011/02/28/hoy/panorama/2518727.asp

Canadian mining operations under blockade.

In Coclé province 300 campesinos and indigenous protesters have blockaded the access road to the operations of Petaquilla Gold’s Molejon project and INMET’s developing copper project, Cobre Panama. The protestors carted in dead fish to denounce the repeated fish kills that have occurred in their rivers since Petaquilla’s project began operations.

Indigenous Ngöbé-Buglé sweep Panama with protests against the Martinelli government's new mining law

McGill students in conjunction with CKUT News and the Media Co-op have published a radio broadcast from the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé in Panama. To hear the full piece, use the following link:

Ngöbe say "No". (Media Co-op)

Interviews with indigenous protestors communicate their frustration with the mining code reforms and the current administration in Panama. Celestino Mariano, the regional cacique of Nedrini, where the Cerro Colorado copper deposit is located, asked that

"international communities act in solidarity with us in what is moral."

This call is especially important for Canadians, as Canadian mining company Corriente Resources has been actively pursuing the development of Cerro Colorado.

More interviews and information about the Comarca and the recent protests are available in a previous broadcast from Panama here:

Ngöbe-Buglé unite against Panamanian mining-code changes. (Media Co-op)

Panamanian Groups Demand Participation

Ngöbé woman displaying the spent shells fired at the February 7th protestors in San Felix

President Martinelli's administration has pushed through a new mining code in Panama, and both environmental and indigenous groups from the country feel that they have not been consulted. The reforms include changes that make it possible for foreign governments themselves to invest in mining concessions, which would increase the pressure to develop the Cerro Colorado mine in the middle of the indigenous Ngöbe-Buglé territory as well as INMET's Cobre Panama mine in the protected watersheds of Donoso in Colon province. President Lee-Myung Bak of South Korea had expressed interest in investing in Panamanian copper last year in visits with Martinelli, when he mentioned the potential of both the Cobre Panama deposit in Colon, and Cerro Colorado in the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle according to La Prensa, a major Panamanian newspaper.

On February 15, thousands of indigenous protesters blockaded the Pan-American Highway, as well as a major highway in province Bocas del Toro, and Avenida Manuel Espinosa Batista was blockaded by university students in the capital, Panama City. The Ngöbe-Buglé demanded that the government address their concerns and submitted in a petition against the reforms. On February 7th, a similar road blockade led to violence, when police opened fire on the crowd, arrested 19 people and wounded 7.



To read the comprehensive article in La Prensa about the origin and outcome of these protests, please follow the link:
Ñagare, ñagare, ñagare a la minería.

According to La Prensa, the second round of protests ended in a visit to San Felix by Vice-Minister of Labor, Luis Ernesto Carles. His intention was to speak with the General Cacique of the Comarca, Rogelio Moreno. After being scratched and hit with a mixture of water and chili pepper he was taken to a hospital in David. Moreno later apologized for the violence and dissociated the organized Comarca protests from violent actions, attributing them to infiltrators.

Carles said that there would be no development of the Cerro Colorado mine, which is located in the center of the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle and is the largest copper deposit in the world yet to be exploited. No official agreement has been drafted as of yet, and no statements were made about the reforms to the mining code. Indigenous leaders are waiting to see the response of the National Assembly and the Martinelli administration, threatening to return to the streets if their concerns are not addressed.

CALL TO ASSEMBLY
FOR A PUBLIC DEBATE SHELTERED FROM THE CENSORS

Denounce the censorship of Barrick Gold et Banro! Come gagged!
Wednesday December 8th, 11:00.
In front of the Montreal Courthouse (Place-d’Armes subway station)

Montreal, December 1, 2010 – The countdown continues for the publishing house, les Éditions Écosociété, and the authors of Noir Canada: there remain only 275 days before the beginning of the defamation proceedings instituted by Barrick for $6 million. The proceedings will be spread over forty days beginning next September.

The authors of Noir Canada quite simply don’t have the resources necessary to bear the cost necessary for such a proceeding. The four employees of the publishing house, Écosociété, risk, for their part, seeing their publishing work seriously compromised in the course of the next year because of this summons. And that does not consider the cost to the Quebec taxpayer, called on to assume the onerous fees – courtroom, judge, bailiff, court clerk – that are implied by forty days of proceedings. During this time, Barrick Gold, the biggest gold company in the world, will continue to benefit from tax deductions that are accorded to a legal person for its court costs.

The SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) instituted by Barrick Gold and Banro constitutes an abusive use of the courts, a diversion of the goals of justice, and a serious attack on the right to the freedom of expression and on the citizen’s right to information in the context of public debate.

Come denounce the censorship of Barrick Gold and Banro, on Wednesday December 8, 11:00, in front of the Montreal Courthouse.

Éditions Écosociété and the authors of Noir Canada will use this gathering of solidarity to make an important announcement regarding the next steps in their case before the courts.

To organizations, please confirm your support and / or presence with Anne-Marie Voisard and carry your banners! To citizens, be creative!

Please spread this appeal (see the attached leaflet).
COME OUT IN NUMBER! COME GAGGED!

Les Éditions Écosociété
slapp.ecosociete.org
amvoisard@ecosociete.org