Geologists’ association in favor of responsible mining

gazebo in the Volteadero sector, built by Petaquilla Gold, S.A. as part of its corporate social responsibility program

While emphasizing that the Panamanian Association of Geologists is in favor of responsible mining, this association’s president Omar Sugasti said that it is necessary to speak the truth to the Panamanian population, to stop the dizzying exaggerated information that confuses the unsuspecting population.

“For a long time geologists have stayed quiet when we hear presentations from some individuals on a topic that they obviously do not know or know superficially. It’s time to tell the Panamanians the truth. It is not fair to present exaggerated ‘assumptions’ that greatly ‘dizzy’ and confuse the unwary, using a tried and learned dialectic that has no scientific basis,” he said.

He stressed that geologists have education, training, knowledge and expertise to properly review the mining issue. “Our arguments are based on evidence and not on speculative weights. The Panamanian Association of Geologists is in favor of responsible mining,” he sustained.

Sugasti said that the fact that most people do not master this subject’s technical aspects has enabled people to exaggerate things and convey a distorted image of reality to the population.

One example is the claim that the Petaquilla project will use 20 million gallons of water per day to operate the mine and that it is a liquid necessary to a population of 28,000 people. “Gentlemen, if we use this analogy, we should stop the operations of the Canal, because two transiting ships consume water that could supply Panama City,” he said.

They have also argued that it was more profitable to sell coffee because the price was double that of copper; that is misinforming the public. Imagine the number of hectares of coffee that would have to be planted with exaggerated yields of 800 kg per acre in cherry, in order to get just about the same economic returns offered by the mine, questioned Sugasti.

“But what’s worse, and those who oppose mining know it, the price in any economic activity is governed by free supply and demand. Attractive coffee prices are due to the current short supply. But if we increase supply, prices will drop and that business will be less attractive,” he stated.

The president of the Association of Geologists also disputed the way mining opponents handle figures when they state that 20 million cubic meters of material will be extracted over the life of the Petaquilla mining project and [question] the place where waste materials from the tailings would be deposited.

The emphasis they put on the numbers suggests to the population a monstrosity of matter that would almost cover the whole country. To have a measurable scale factor, I compare this with the existing Canal Expansion Project, which currently produces a total excavation of 133 million cubic meters of material, of which 50 million are above water level. More than twice as much as Petaquilla would produce, he added.

He added that you just have to go through the Centennial Bridge to see the impact of excavations from the canal expansion project, where you can see the terraces of exposed material with a displacement similar to what will be the tailings at the end of Petaquilla operations within 20 years.

“We go by every day and no one is alarmed. Tell people the truth. They speak of thousands of hectares, mining concessions only have 109, and they do not tell you that exploration hectares are not the same as that of exploitation,” he said.

Sugasti explained that for mineral exploitation to be profitable it must be concentrated and that is the area to be affected by mining works, not the entire concession as the public has been led to believe.

“No mining company will spend money in areas that are not useful. Therefore, they will focus on exploiting only the mineralized areas,” he said.

In Panama, to develop its project Petaquilla Gold, S.A., has implemented leading edge technology applied in first order mining projects and it fully complies with environmental standards and both Panamanian and international requirements.