Petaquilla Gold facing criminal complaint

PANAMA’S Environment Ministry has filed a criminal complaint alleging environmental crimes against Petaquilla Gold and its legal representative Richard Fifer.

Environment Minister, Mirei Endara, said that the project has been abandoned since 2013, forcing the State to implement actions to mitigate environmental damage.
She added that about $30 million is required to address the immediate problem At a recent Cabinet meeting, the minister requested a credit of $2.5 million to pump water from tubs, strengthen the slopes, clean soils with hydrocarbons and perform other tasks.
She explained that one of the main problems for the environment is the tailings basins where contaminated material that can affect surrounding rivers and communities in Donoso, Colon Province She said the project was abandoned without running a closure plan and elimination of areas that may cause damage to the environment.Company representatives have said the tailings basins have only rainwater and no mining has been done for over a year.