Richard Fifer

The government announced that the draft law amending the Mineral Resources Code which includes, among other advances, increased royalty payments to government, fines and bonds, will be submitted to the National Assembly within one month for consideration, according to Minister of Trade and Industry (MICI), Ricardo Quijano.

The new legislation seeks to establish more stringent environmental conservation measures, especially in metal mining, an activity currently performed only by Petaquilla Gold, S. A., a company under engineer Richard Fifer Carles’s direction that exploits the Molejon gold deposit in the district of Donoso, province of Colon.

Minister Quijano announced that the draft that he will send to the Panamanian parliament will include the new amount of royalties that mining companies must pay to the government and municipalities.

A network of tourist destination in the municipalities that form part of what in the colonial times was Castilla del Oro, would be established by the Foundation Castilla del Oro, with the objective that these would be one the various products and route that would be offered by Panama to the visitors, within the promotional package that would be offered outside the country.

And with the vision of the engineer Richard Fifer- Carles, the offer of the Foundation is variety: religious tourism, which legacy is materialized in the historical sites as the Church of Nata de los Caballeros, the Church of San Francisco de La Montaña, among others, as the forts of San Lorenzo and Portobelo, also the San Sebastian Inn of Ocu.

Also the folkloric potential with plays as the Museum of the Pollera in Las Tablas, and the renovation of plazas, parks and the construction of accommodation sites such as hostels, aimed at entrepreneurs.

Petaquilla Gold S.A., led by entrepreneur Richard Fifer-Carles, through its Environment and Hydrology department, has promoted the creation of Gardening Clubs in the towns near by the project, as well as starting the Petaquilla Reforests program which consists in supporting previously surveyed families with consumables and purchasing their production.

The Hydrology and Environment department has an operations center that counts with qualified staff, specialized in environmental topics, where all the reforestation and soil recovery activities that will be carried out are planned, which allows them to maintain control of the soil sedimentation and water sources.

The need for building materials and the high cost of transporting them to areas of difficult access in communities located near the Petaquilla Gold S. A. mining project led the company, under engineer Richard Fifer-Carles’s leadership, to launch an initiative to tap on the non-mineralized material removed from the Molejón deposit.

The “Petarcilla” sustainable development project is run by Panama Infrastructure Development (PDI) and, according to the company’s general manager, José Luis Dieguez, it will take advantage of material left over after metal is extracted in order to produce clay that will be used for building blocks and tiles.

Petaquilla Gold, S. A. published a paid advertisement in the La Estrella newspaper which reported that among the benefits of the “Petarcilla” project an improved quality of life for the general population and the increase in development projects in mining activity’s area of influence stand out.

Just like rivers descend from the mountains, irrigating fertility as they pass, are felt the effects of mining in Cocle, from whose mountains has descended the golden effect of the mining activity of Petaquilla Gold SA, under the leadership of Engineer Richard Fifer Carles.

The Sindicato de Industriales de Panama (SIP) expressed this in the Punto de Vista column published by the Panama America newspaper, where its highlighted that the construction of new neighborhoods and malls, as well as an increase on sales, are a result of the mining activity that comes from Coclesito to Penonome.

It is a reality that even the merchants are externalizing by expressing that their best customer is Petaquilla Gold, SA, over the beach hotel industry characteristic of this province for the last few years.

Looking to promote development in La Castilla del Oro zone in Panama, Petaquilla Gold S.A. continues to work alongside enterprising people in the region. The development of the communities, depends on the enterprising spirit of the people that inhabits them, and with this premise the company led by Engineer Richard Fifer – Carles supports as many individual’s enterprising initiatives within the company’s power. On this opportunity in the area of Penonome, Cocle province, support materials were given (see photograph) to the company run by Benigno Justavino who will develop printing activities and merchandising of school and office supplies.

(Photograph) Benigno Justavino, with the Petaquilla donations to start his enterprise.

The company Panama Desarrollo de Infraestructura (PDI), is the executive arm of Petaquilla Gold S.A. and as such is in charge of all the services offered to the Molejon mining project, fromearth moving, to drilling, and constructing civil works, stated its general manager, Jose Luis Dieguez.

Under the direction of businessman Richard Fifer Carles, the mining company has hired PDI to handle all the basic services including camp management, catering services, laundry, and maintenance to the mining facilities, said Dieguez.

He explained that after the construction phase of Petaquilla Gold’s plant, over 700 people who worked at the project were included in what used to be Petaquilla Hidro and were later divided to work in the areas of gold production or services related to the mining activity.

During its visit to Panama, the Spanish delegation of the Castilla del Oro Foundation participated of the local folklore in all of its dimension.

In Parita it was the right moment for a group of singers from the communities of Paris of Parita, El Higo of Pedernal and Sesteadero to give to the audience another example of the local art of that region of the country, a young lady invited the Duke of Veragua (Christopher Columbus) to dance “tamborito”, an offer that was not missed by the distinguished visitor, who was visibly exited and accepted the invitation showing his dancing skills.

The Castilla del Oro Foundation, led by its two presidents Christopher Columbus in Spain and Pacual Montanes Duato in Panama, visited the central provinces of Panama in order to develop the vision of the engineer Richard Fifer-Carles. Position the Castilla del Oro in the world map as a spiritual tourism destiny.

April 2011

Petaquilla Gold, led by engineer Richard Fifer – Carles, continues giving lectures to the  population of the Colon Province, showing the good practices used in the entire value chain. On this opportunity the members of the Panama’s Las Gardenias Gardening Club visited the Oro Molejón Plant installations. The Engineer Rafael Eysseric of Petaquilla Gold, S.A. joined by operators in the Control room were in charge of explaining the Responsible functioning of the plant

Molejón Plant Control room (Petaquilla Gold S.A.)