On this link find today’s press release from Petaquilla Mineral (PTQ.to) that tells us it has just poured its first gold (on April 7th). It has done this without having environmental approval and in total disregard to the government ANAM office that specifically ordered the company to stop all work until it met with and gained environmental approval for its operations.
- This is also the same company responsible for a toxic leak last month that killed fish and wild animals in the region.
- It’s the very same company that refuses to pay a previously imposed environmental fine for its manifold breaches of regulations and disregard for local people, their land and their water supply.
- It’s the same company that faces a further round of sanctions, fines and prolonging of its suspension (the one being totally ignored) due to the recent investigations by ANAM and the failure of the company to comply with environmental law, as announced last week.
- It’s the company that has brought locals out to block the access road to the mine for the second time in a month (on April 6th) due to its unrelenting malpractice.
Against all this, these bastards calmly announce that they have poured gold to an unsuspecting audience. The image of Voltaire’s firing squad “pour encourager les autres” once again springs to mind. If PTQ.to moves up today it will give a shorting opportunity of a lifetime to the people at Kingsford Capital (and other shortside traders). I strongly encourage them to take that chance, as this company is an embarrassment to the mining community and should be traded out of existence in the shortest possible time.