Far be it for this humble corner of cyberspace to stick its oar in where it isn’t wanted, but there have been a couple of strange developments in the San José mine permitting process that others might want to consider, as they may be able to cast some light on why the share price of Fortuna Silver (FSM) (FVI.to) stubbornly refuses to return to the levels it enjoyed before permitting woes hit its mining operation in Oaxaca State, Mexico.
The first is something of a non-event rather than a development per se, a case of strange silence. Since the day Fortuna Silver (FSM) (FVI.to) announced Mexico’s Semarnat environmental authority had renewed its license and got its share price to rally, the protesting locals who say their demands were ignored have asked that Semarnat pronounce on its decision to extended the company’s permit. The odd thing is that despite it being a hot-button subject, the Mexican enviro people have kept totally silent on whether the contentious permit has been rolled over officially. As for the second strange thing, that went down today at Oaxaca’s State Legislature when the Oaxaca parliament passed an urgent resolution to demand that Semarnat’s boss cancel the permits for Fortuna’s Silver’s mine. They also “respectfully demanded” that three members of Congress at Mexico’s national parliament, namely Azael Santiago Chepi, Ángel Domínguez Escobar and Yeidckol Polevnsky, stop lobbying in favour of the mining company “for their personal benefit”. The Oaxaca State legislature rounded off by asking Mexico’s Human Rights Commission to investigate what they call ten years of abuse against local communities by the mining company.
Put together, the two points suggest things aren’t quite as cut and dried as FSM would like us on the outside to believe. Perhaps the company could help by explaining, as it would be in everyone’s best interest to put minds at rest on the true validity of its permitting situation.
I have checked you out and was told by a very very reputable person in the world of silver investing that you leave a lot to be desired as far as veracity and integrity. It was suggested to me that I should ask you when the last time it was that you spoke with Carlos and Jorge at Fortuna.
Well, it’s nice that you finally introduced yourself after sneaking around trying to learn about me in the background, beats me why you took this long to show up. It’s not as if I’m hard to find. As for your comment, if you can’t find anything wrong, attack the messenger and as a person in my position is the brunt of ad-hom attacks permanently, one more is neither here nor there. And hey, I could play the same game as you and say that a “very very reputable” person in silver investing is an oxymoron. But no, let’s not go down that road.
So, any questions on the subject matter?
As you’re so interested in investigation, try these questions for size:
1) Has Semarnat made any public confirmation of its permit renewal decision?
2) Did the Oaxaca parliament decide to do what it says in my post?
3) Would FSM like these facts to be known, or would it prefer them to stay off the radar to the average investor?
Talk is cheap, so maybe you’d like ask your “very very reputable” person those three questions before shooting your mouth off again. And next time, you might want to call your reputable contact “very very very”, or perhaps even “very very VERY very”. It would make them sound even more important.
Nothing will happen until next week at the earliest. Most Mexican government departments (including SEMARNAT) don’t get back into the office until next week, but we should hear something by the end of the month.
That doesn’t stack up as for one, Semarnat has published on many subjects since the FSM NR. For another, locals around SJdP have engaged Semarnat since the FSM NR appeared, asking for aclaration.
Shoot the messenger…to my mind the hominem vitreol only add credibility to the messengers message. I will invest accordingly. Thank you very much!
So you are saying that Fortuna lied about getting the permit ?
No, I’m saying what it says in the post. On the one hand, a permit issuance is published and acknowledged by Semarnat, something that hasn’t happened. On the other, FSM says its permit has been issued. The title says what it is, “odd”. With the addition of the Oaxaca parliament decision, the situation is clearly not as cut and dried as FSM made out in December. As for the three national level politicos, there’s zero doubt on how they keenly lobbied for the FSM case and now in Oaxaca, the local government is accusing them of corrupt activity.
I have checked you out and was told by a very very very very very reputable person in the world of silver investing that you are remarkable. Then, I subscribed to The IKN Weekly and found out for myself firsthand. The End.
Thanks very very much, Pablo. You are also very very very reputable and your support is very very VERY very appreciated, sir 🙂
[…] two positions are clearly not compatible. What’s more, back on January 5th we noted two oddities about this case. Firstly, that locals in San José de Progreso have been demanding comment from […]