Panama was the main route for shipping precious metals from Latin America to Europe after the Spanish conquest, but little of it came from the country itself. Panama’s mining sector, nonetheless, has the potential for substantial growth and it is one of the most promising new areas of the economy. The country has two of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world. Other minerals with commercial potential are gold, silver and manganese. Mining investments are aided by a favorable mining law, which encourages foreign investment.
The performance of the activity of Mining and quarrying, composed mainly by the extraction of stone, sand, limestone and clay, salt and gold, grew 6.1% which represented a value of real output per B/.286.8 million. Growth was driven by exports of gold was the most decisive performance of mining in previous years, the evolution of the price of ore in the international market, which was and continues to rise, because it is offered as an alternative investment or to preserve the value of money. In this regard, for example, at the end of the year, reached troy ounce of gold trading in $ 1,421.00, surpassing the price B/.252.18 year. The price of gold has risen steadily in recent years. The high volatility of major currencies (dollar, euro, yen), the conflicts that drive the price of oil in the international market as well as forecasts of rising food prices, have paid much attention to this mineral in the world.
Until recently, Panama’s mining sector was best known for the hugely ambitious Cerro Colorado project, 250 km west of Panama City near the Gulf of ChiriquÃ. This project still has mineable reserves of 1.4 billion tonnes grading 0.7 per cent copper. Rio Tinto Zinc transferred its 49 per cent holding to the government in 1994 and the state now fully owns Cerro Colorado. The government wants private mining companies to exploit the richest and most accessible part of the area which has estimated reserves of 60 million tonnes of 0.9% grading.
Producing gold mines were Santa Rosa and Remance which were shut down after the gold mining scandals in Indonesia and Canada stock markets in 1996 and later both suffered multiple litigation problems.
The largest project is Cerro Petaquilla, 120 km west of Panama City and close to the Caribbean coast. An expanding mining district embracing at least eight separate deposits, Petaquilla and its satellites rank as the third largest copper and gold ore complex in the world.
According to Canadian investment banking reports, the Petaquilla and Botija mineable reserves still have room to grow through exploration. Both deposits cover surface areas of around one mile by half a mile. The deposits contain uniform, blanket like mineralization averaging in excess of 500 feet of thickness with very low anticipated stripping ratios. The actual thickness of large portions of the two deposits is not yet defined as certain drill holes terminated in strong copper mineralization that was in excess of 800 feet in thickness. Work on the other copper deposits is intended to both expand resources and attempt to link all the deposits together into potentially one large deposit. The feasibility study only looked at the Petaquilla and Botija pits, but there is the possibility that some of the other exploration areas may be linked with these two pits.
Petaquilla Minerals, a company that operates the Molejon gold mine, by the end of 2010 announced that it raised its gold production from 6000 that drew 500 ounces per month until October 8000 to 562 ounces. With this, the company puts its annual production rate 102 000 744 ounces of gold in the market has an average price of 133.5 million dollars. The miner also said that the level of efficiency of its production plant is located on a 95.2% range expected to continue increasing. The Petaquilla project is protected by a special investment agreement which became a law, entered and approved by the government of Panama, and contemplating multiple tax and investment incentives for this project.
Minera Panama, SA Panama is a subsidiary of Inmet Mining Corporation, a global mining company headquartered in Canada. Copper Project Panama, is in the exploration phase to develop a copper mine world-class in the province of Colon, Panama. The reserve of copper Panama, which has an expected life of more than thirty years, is one of the largest in the world. Total investment for this project is U.S. $ 5 billion, making it the largest private investment made in the history of Panama.
Inmet Mining in June 2011 have confirmed the possibility of extending the operations of its future mine in Panama. The copper project, through its subsidiary Minera Panama, originally intended to carry 30 years or until 2045. However, the discovery of a deposit of high mineralization in the areas of grant changes planned.
Inmet announced successful exploration of the site of Balboa product of a drilling discovered during a geophysical survey in August 2010, says a company press release dated May 31. This deposit is not expected to be part of the initial mine plan, which intervene 5 000 900 hectares within its grant of 13 000 hectares in which there are three pits. The site of Balboa expected to rise significantly in the expansion of production and mine life. Copper Project
ANNUAL PRODUCTION: removing an estimated 255 000 tons of copper, 90 000 ounces of gold, 1.5 million ounces of silver and 3 000 200 tonnes of molybdenum.
BALBOARESERVOIR: 19 holes have been drilled, and invested $ 9 million to drill 20 thousand feet.
Panama still presents many opportunities in mining exploration. There are many greenfield properties and local groups looking for partners.
The Business Panama Group can represent you, or find you local partners, or provide consulting in different areas of a project, or raise equity capital, or recommend you to the leading lawyers in Panama.
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