Tag Archives: Peru

News, Politics, Government

Private Jet Set Kicking The Bucket

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By Russ Alan Prince, Contributor For many years travel industry destination marketers elbowed each other to be on the bucket list for mass affluent consumers (household incomes between US$100,000 and US$400,000). The problem was that if per chance they were successful in getting mass affluent consumers to go to Australia this year instead of China, Alaska, Peru, Tahiti, South Africa, India, fill-in-the-blank, the net effect was that these consumers were unlikely to return to these destinations. They had spent a couple thousand bucks, checked it off their list. On the flight back home, they were already thinking about checking off the next box. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Styles & Fashion

Buying This Gucci Really Might Save the World

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By Leah Melby

Proving an eco-friendly handbag can look like something you’d find on Madison Avenue, rather than a ramshackle setup in Peru, is Gucci for the Green Carpet Challenge. The luxury brand partnered with Green Carpet Challenge creator Livia Firth and the National Wildlife Federation to make the same gorgeous accessories you’re used to seeing, but this time with guaranteed zero deforestation. The bags, seen above and below, are made with leather from the Brazilian Amazon that is totally traceable from source to finished product while also being ruled by Gucci’s regular quality standards.

The meeting of two worlds can be a beautiful thing. See shopping information below should you want to show your support (and update your accessory closet).

Green Carpet Challenge For Gucci Leather Shoulder Bag ($2,900)

Green Carpet Challenge For Gucci Leather Hobo ($2,500)

Photos courtesy of Gucci

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Computers

US leads 'dirty dozen' of spam traffickers, Sophos study says

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Sophos has selected its “dirty dozen” of countries that relay spam for the second quarter of 2013, and the U.S. has taken the top spot.

With a population of more than 300 million people that makes up a large portion of the world’s online traffic, Sophos security evangelist, Paul Ducklin, said it is no surprise that the U.S. is the leader.

“Remember that the Dirty Dozen doesn’t tell us from where the spam originates,” he said. “It tells us how spam gets relayed from the crooks to their potential victims.”

Belarus has risen up to take the second spot, with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Argentina and making their debut as France, Peru, and South Korea drop from the list.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

News, Politics, Government

Lima: Where the pallbearers are black

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Elegant in tuxedos and white gloves, the six black pallbearers silently and gracefully remove the mahogany coffin bearing a Lima tire magnate from his mansion. They slide it into the Cadillac hearse that will parade Jorge Reyna’s body through the Chorrillos district where he was once mayor.

The pallbearers are in the job precisely because of the color of their skin, a phenomenon unique to this South American capital that was the regional seat of Spain’s colonial empire for more than three centuries. In fact, prominent citizens such as Reyna, a widely respected, charitable man of indigenous origin who died at age 82, request black pallbearers for their funerals.

“He planned his funeral and wanted it to be elegant,” said Reyna’s widow, Clarisa Velarde.

Blacks routinely bear the caskets of ex-presidents, mining magnates and bankers to their tombs in Lima. The peculiar tradition exists neither in provincial Peruvian cities nor in other Latin American countries with significant black populations such as Brazil, Panama and Colombia.

It is not a profession chosen by Lima’s blacks but is rather thrust upon them by a lack of opportunity, say Afro-Peruvian scholars. And racism remains so deeply ingrained in Peru that many don’t consider the practice discriminatory.

“Beyond the question of racism or prejudice, I think it is simply a question of employment,” said Jose Campos, a leading Peruvian black studies scholar and vice rector of the National Education University.

For 61-year-old Armando Arguedas, who like his fellow pallbearers never finished elementary school, it’s simply a job.

“Some people are friendly,” he said of those who employ him. “Some don’t even say thank you.”

Black pallbearers were even used for the recent funeral of the wife of former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

“We were never treated better,” said Arguedas. “The family members thanked us and paid us triple.”

Blacks are all but absent from Peru’s business and political elite and although slavery was abolished in 1854, only 2 percent of Peru’s blacks go to college. Afro-Peruvians are consigned largely to manual labor including as field hands in sugar cane plantations along the nation’s Pacific coast.

Census-takers don’t even register …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Replacing The Indispensable: Leadership Challenges At Think Tanks

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By Alejandro Chafuen, Contributor

Champions of free-enterprise have always focused on the importance of ownership as essential to economic progress.  In recent decades, especially after Instituto Libertad y Democracia, Lima, Peru, published “The Other Path” during the 80’s, many studies focused on the importance of clear and secure property titles.  Ownership provides incentives to create, innovate, and produce.  It also opens the access to capital and encourages better stewardship. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

Relatives say 8 settlers slain by Peruvian Indians

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Ashaninka Indians armed with shotguns killed eight men who encroached on their ancestral lands in an Amazon jungle region of Peru plagued by illegal logging and cocaine trafficking, relatives of the slain men said Wednesday.

The eight were attempting to settle in a community called Centro Tsomanevi in the San Martin de Pangoa district and were killed last week, said Marco Velasquez, the father of one of the dead men.

“I had to retrieve my own son’s body,” Velasquez told The Associated Press by phone from the region. He said 42 relatives of the slain men had made the trip to recover their loved ones’ corpses without assistance of police or soldiers.

Drug-trafficking remnants of Shining Path rebels who dominated the region in the 1980s and early 1990s remain active in the area. Peru’s government gave shotguns to Ashaninka communities in those days to battle the Shining Path.

Velasquez said he did not know whether the slain men were involved in illegal logging or the planting of coca, the basis for cocaine, as Peruvian media speculated. He said two other men had survived and reached the town of Pichari after two days on foot.

Esperanza Ambrosio, the sister-in-law of a settler who disappeared in the attack, complained that police and soldiers spurned her pleas to search for him.

Local prosecutor Ida Romero told the AP that authorities were investigating the case.

Paula Acevedo, a spokeswoman for a group that seeks to protect Ashaninka communities in the region, said such killings could not be justified and called for an immediate investigation.

She said the Ashaninka in the Ene river area “have historically been forgotten by the state and live in communities transited by members of the last battalions of the Shining Path.” She said there are also major problems with land tenure and a lack of property delineation.

The region is also a major cocaine cultivation and transit point.

A truth commission convened to study Peru’s 1980-2000 conflict found that the Tsomanevi region was one of the worst affected by Shining Path violence. It said rebels had destroyed schools, killed community leaders and enslaved part of the population.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

A 'New Normal' for Private Equity

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By Knowledge@Wharton on Forbes, Contributor The following post was published on the Knowledge@Wharton Today blog on July 11, 2013. Some $200 billion of new capital went to private equity and venture capital management partnerships (collectively referred to here as PE) throughout the world in 2012. For the first time, 20% of that total, some $40 billion, went to fund managers in emerging market countries. Surprisingly, of that $40 billion, only $15 billion went to the subset of emerging economies known as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). That leaves $25 billion that went into the non-BRIC emerging markets. So where did the rest of it go? Countries like Columbia, Chile, Peru and Mexico have seen remarkable growth. Several African countries, such as South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria — indeed, the whole of sub-Saharan Africa — have witnessed growth in the number of fund managers and the capital under management. Turkey also has emerged as a destination, as have Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and now Indonesia. These new players still have work to do in improving their PE ecosystems. Management capacity building is high on the list, as are appropriate laws and regulations, tax treatment and acceptance of contractual provisions. These countries’ governments have recognized the role of PE in their industries and are motivated to make the needed changes. There is a discernible transfer of knowledge from mature economies to the emerged and emerging market PE players. These trends are reflected in two of the articles included in this year’s Wharton Private Equity Review. One offers coverage of a panel discussion titled, “Private Equity Survival Guide: How to Survive and Thrive in Emerging Markets,” which took place at the 2013 Wharton Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference. The second, written by a team of five Wharton MBA students, focuses on the impact of the Arab Spring on private equity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Beyond emerging markets, this year’s review includes a piece by a Wharton MBA student that looks at how the regulatory scrutiny of the PE industry in the United States has evolved dramatically over recent years. The industry has moved from a lightly regulated, self-governing asset class to one that is coming under increasing scrutiny and reporting requirements. The author speculates on what is in store for the industry as regulators continue their investigations. An example of international activity is presented in a case study by another Wharton MBA student, titled “Investing in Times of Distress: the Bank of Ireland and WL Ross,” which provides a detailed overview of how PE investors have played a role in the recapitalization and restructuring of troubled financial institutions. Knowledge@Wharton then reports on another panel from the conference that addressed how PE firms create value and questioned some of the common wisdom surrounding the roles and actions of PE firms once they have acquired a company. Finally, a piece on venture capital from another conference panel then looks at the challenge of generating consistent returns and the growing allure of New York …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

5 saved, 2 missing after balloon goes into Pacific

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A hot-air tourist balloon carrying seven people in Peru has fallen into the Pacific Ocean, and authorities say they have rescued five women while the craft’s pilot and another man remain missing.

Interior Minister Wilfredo Pedraza says none of the people on the flight were wearing life jackets.

Members of the Peruvian navy, air force and police searched with helicopters, boats and jet skis for the missing men throughout the day Sunday.

Authorities say the women survived because they stayed in the balloon’s basket, which floated. They have been taken to a naval hospital.

Balloon company manager Luis Fernandez says strong winds pushed the balloon off its planned route along the coast and out over the Pacific.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Pope Francis' successor in Argentina assumes post

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Argentine Mario Poli was inaugurated as the new archbishop of Buenos Aires on Saturday, taking over the post held by Jorge Bergoglio before he became Pope Francis.

Poli, 66, was named to the position by Francis in late March and Vatican envoy Emil Paul Tscherrig welcomed him in the name of the pope in the ceremony at the capital’s metropolitan cathedral, saying the pontiff “accompanies us from Rome.”

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who was traveling in Peru and Venezuela, did not attend the ceremony but several of her Cabinet ministers did.

“The arrival of the replacement for Bergoglio generates enthusiasm, expectations and hope, and we wish him the best in his pastoral activities in Buenos Aires,” said Julian Dominguez, the head of the Chamber of Deputies.

Poli is a priest very much in Francis’ vein, focused on pastoral work. He has been the bishop in Santa Rosa in the rural La Pampa province, and from 2002-2008 he served as one of then-Cardinal Bergoglio‘s auxiliary bishops in Buenos Aires, but he was not among the church officials rumored to be top candidates for the post.

He has a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of Argentina, but before he was ordained as a priest in 1978, he earned a degree in social work from the public University of Buenos Aires, known as UBA. That apparently impressed Bergoglio, who talked about the benefits of such training in a 2012 book, “On Heaven and Earth.”

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/sq6v14x2kws/

White House Press Office

Fact Sheet: The Equal Futures Partnership—From Promise To Progress

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By The White House

The Promise of Equal Futures

In response to President Obama’s challenge to other heads of state to break down barriers to women’s political and economic participation, on September 24, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the Equal Futures Partnership on behalf of the United States along with 12 other founding members (Australia, Benin, Bangladesh, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Peru, Senegal, and Tunisia; as well as the European Union). Each founding member made national commitments to policy, legal, and regulatory reforms to promote two mutually reinforcing goals: expanded economic opportunity for women and increased political and civic participation by women at local, state and national levels. Multilateral stakeholders including UN Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions also pledged support for the partnership.

Moving from Promise to Progress

Following the launch of the initiative, Equal Futures members have worked to identify priorities for action through consultations with civil society and other stakeholders and by establishing coordinating bodies or steering committees to develop and oversee the implementation of Equal Futures commitments. Going forward, Equal Futures countries will report on progress within the Partnership, and evaluate and strengthen commitments to ensure real impact.

Highlights from progress on U.S. commitments:

As a founding member of the Equal Futures Partnership, the United States made commitments in four key areas, and has achieved significant progress in each of these areas. Highlights include:

Opening Doors to Quality Education and High-Paying Career Opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math: Federal agencies and private partners have made great progress on connecting young women to high-quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related resources. In just seven months, over 20,000 students interacted with 500 women mentors via Harvey Mudd and Piazza’s online platform WitsOn, while the National Science Foundation, Office of Personnel Management, and non-profit partners joined forces to train Federal scientists and engineers on serving as a resource for girls interested in STEM.

Promoting Civic Education and Public Leadership for Girls: The Administration has advanced new efforts to promote girls’ leadership and civic education, including sponsoring an “app challenge,” hosting a conference on girls’ leadership and civic education at the White House with the Department of Education and the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), and advising on the development of a new initiative, Teach a Girl to Lead (TAG) – featuring online resources and a national speakers’ bureau.

Breaking the Cycle of Violence and Ensuring Economic Security for Survivors of Violence: To ensure that women who are victims of domestic violence are getting the support and tools they need to achieve economic independence, the Administration is now providing training on employment rights to lawyers and consumer advocates, working with state domestic violence coalitions and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to ensure that victims know about employment protections under federal law, and expanding research on domestic violence to include information about economic abuse.

Expanding Support for Women Entrepreneurs: The Administration has strengthened support for women entrepreneurs at

From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/19/fact-sheet-equal-futures-partnership-promise-progress

News, Politics, Government

Election council to audit vote in Venezuela

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Venezuela‘s electoral council says it will audit the 46 percent of the vote not scrutinized on election night, a surprise concession that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles says will prove that he won the presidency.

“We are where we want to be,” a satisfied but cautious-looking Capriles told a news conference after the Thursday night announcement. “I think I will have the universe of voters needed to get where I want to be.”

Capriles had demanded a full vote-by-vote recount but said he accepted the National Electoral Council‘s ruling, which marked a surprising turnabout for President-elect Nicolas Maduro, whose socialist government had a day earlier looked to be digging in its heels.

The late President Hugo Chavez‘s heir is being inaugurated on Friday and was in Lima, Peru, on Thursday night for an emergency meeting of South American leaders to discuss his country’s electoral crisis.

The meeting began late and it was not clear whether any of the continent’s other leaders — Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff wields the most influence — had pressured Maduro to accept the audit.

Capriles ducked the question when asked by an Associated Press reporter for his explanation of the concession.

In a declaration released after the 3 1/2-hour meeting, the South American presidents asked “all parties who participated in the election to respect the official results” and said they “took positive note” of the electoral council’s audit decision.

Maduro, in a Twitter message, proclaimed the meeting a “great success.”

“Complete support for the people and democracy of Venezuela,” Maduro continued. “Thank you South America! I await you in Caracas.”

Maduro had never rejected the audit publicly, and it was possible pressure from the military or more moderate members of his ruling clique were a factor. Maduro heads a faction believed to be more radical.

The so-called Chavistas control all the levers of power in Venezuela, so the electoral council’s decision can only be seen as having the government‘s imprimatur.

A petition to halt Maduro’s inauguration had been rejected earlier Thursday by the country’s highest court.

Opposition supporters

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/lvvt2GDwezI/

News, Politics, Government

Election council to audit vote in Venezuela's presidential election

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Venezuela‘s electoral council said Thursday it would audit the 46 percent vote that was not scrutinized on election night in a concession to opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, who said he was accepting the decision because he believed the stolen votes that cost him the presidency are the unaudited.

Capriles had demanded a full vote-by-vote recount but said he could live with the National Electoral Council‘s ruling, which appeared to mark a turnaround for President-elect Nicolas Maduro, whose government had looked all week to be digging in its heels.

“We know where the problems are,” Capriles said, referring to the votes cast in the 12,000 voting machines that council President Tibisay Lucena said would be audited beginning next week and would take a month to complete.

Capriles said he will insist that every single vote receipt be counted and compared to voter registries as well as to voting machine tally sheets. In announcing the audit, council president Tibisay Lucena did not say whether it would do that. Venezuela‘s electronic voting system emits receipts for every ballot that are boxed up with the tally machines.

Maduro, Chavez’s anointed successor, is being inaugurated on Friday and was in Lima, Peru, on Thursday night for an emergency meeting of South American leaders called to discuss the Venezuelan crisis.

He won of Sunday’s election by a slim 260,000-vote margin out of 14.9 million ballots cast after squandering a double-digit lead in the polls as Venezuelans upset by a troubled economy, rampant crime, food shortages and worsening power outages turned away from a candidate they considered a poor imitation of the charismatic leader for whom he long served as foreign minister.

Capriles maintains the vote was stolen from him through intimidation and other abuses and presented a long list of abuses.

No international election monitors were scrutinizing the vote.

Lucena’s announcement seemed a clear turnaround from a government that has a stranglehold on all state institutions and had waged a crackdown on protest all week and followed the Supreme Court chief’s announcement on Wednesday that the full recount Capriles demanded was not legal.

Maduro was sworn in as acting president after Chavez died last month after a long fight with cancer.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/I3FW9IXKzg0/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Buenaventura Announces Contractors Strike at Uchucchacua Mine

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Buenaventura Announces Contractors Strike at Uchucchacua Mine

LIMA, Peru–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. (“Buenaventura”) (NYSE: BVN; Lima Stock Exchange: BUE.LM), Peru‘s largest publicly traded, precious metals mining company announced today that the Uchucchacua contractors began a strike yesterday.

The cited reason for the strike is for obtaining special economic benefits.

The Company would like to point out that annual negotiations between the Contractors with their Unions were closed in January.

The Peruvian Ministry of Labor has denied the proceeding of the strike at this time.

The Company will update accordingly as any developments occur.

Company Description

Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. is Peru‘s largest, publicly traded precious metals Company and a major holder of mining rights in Peru. The Company is engaged in the mining, processing, development and exploration of gold and silver and other metals via wholly owned mines, as well as through its participation in joint exploration projects.

Buenaventura currently operates several mines in Peru (Orcopampa*, Poracota*, Uchucchacua*, Breapampa*, Mallay*, Antapite*, Julcani*, Recuperada*, El Brocal, La Zanja, Coimolache and CEDIMIN*).

The Company owns 43.65% of Minera Yanacocha S.R.L (a partnership with Newmont Mining Corporation), an important precious metal producer; 19.58% of Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde, an important Peruvian copper producer, and 49% of Canteras del Hallazgo S.A, owner the Chucapaca project.

For a printed version of the Company’s 2011 Form 20-F, please contact the persons indicated above, or download a PDF format file from the Company’s web site.

(*) Operations wholly owned by Buenaventura

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information (as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involve risks and uncertainties, including those concerning the Company’s, Yanacocha’s and Cerro Verde’s costs and expenses, results of exploration, the continued improving efficiency of operations, prevailing market prices of gold, silver, copper and other metals mined, the success of joint ventures, estimates of future explorations, development and production, subsidiaries’ plans for capital expenditures, estimates of reserves and Peruvian political, economic, social and legal developments. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s view with respect to the Company’s, Yanacocha’s and Cerro Verde’s future financial performance. Actual results could differ

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/17/buenaventura-announces-contractors-strike-at-uchuc/

Automobiles

Report: US, Japan trade talks could see scrapping of car and truck tariffs

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By Jonathon Ramsey

2015 Subaru WRX STI Spy Shots

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Trade issues between the United States and Japan, especially in the automotive sector, have struck a repetitive note for decades: our market is open to them, their market is effectively closed to us. Even though Japan doesn’t apply tariffs to cars we export there – whereas we tax Japanese passenger cars 2.5 percent and Japanese light trucks 25 percent – other barriers like Japan‘s 2,000-unit cap in the Preferential Handling Program and regulatory hurdles have limited the amount of effective trade US companies can conduct there. In 2011 for instance, the US exported $1.5 billion in auto products to Japan but imported $41 billion in auto products from Japan. And it’s said that Japan sells 120 cars in the US for every car a US manufacturer sells there.

That’s why potential US approval of Japan‘s request to enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is sending automotive criers out in the streets. The TPP is a series of long-running talks to open up trade between the US and 10 other nations (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam). Last month, Japan asked to join the talks, and the TPP membership would need to assent to the request within 90 days of the next TPP meeting, scheduled for Peru in July.

It looks like the US will agree to let Japan in and that has some politicians and labor groups concerned, the fear being that Japan will get an even easier time of it here without truly eliminating hurdles over there. Talks between Japan and the US are said to be at “an advanced stage,” with the US trying to get some early agreements in advance in sectors like auto, insurance and agriculture before the July meeting.

The AFL-CIO is wary, just one of the labor groups worried about losing ground just when it’s said that American manufacturing is coming back. Ford, not a newcomer to being vocal about trade issues with Japan, is against Japan‘s inclusion to the TPP talks, as is the American Automotive Policy Council. And certain members of Congress are hesitant to let Japan sit at the table, based on past and current unresolved issues. Nevertheless, it doesn’t look like the Obama Administration and a large pro-business lobby will turn away from the possibility of adding the world’s third largest economy to the proceedings, the US government having already unofficially welcomed Japan to the TPP talks.

US, Japan trade talks could see scrapping of car and truck tariffs originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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From: http://feeds.autoblog.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~3/qlBZCW_-6XM/

News, Politics, Government

Peru bus falls into Andean river; 27 die

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Police in Peru say a passenger bus has plunged off an Andean highway into a river, killing at least 27 people.

Officer Victor Paez of the La Libertad highway police says the cause of Saturday’s crash is not immediately clear, though he says there have been heavy rains in the area some 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) north of the Lima, the capital.

The victims of the crash include three doctors, two nurses and several rural school teachers. Forty-three passengers were aboard the bus of the Horna line when it left the town of Huamanchuco headed toward the regional capital of Trujillo.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/zb-pJhDCr3k/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is South America Losing Its Luster for Miners?

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By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

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After Barrick Gold became the latest miner to have a development project halted in South America, investors need to ask whether the continent will lose its sheen as an attractive haven for mining.

A Chilean appeals court ordered Barrick to stop development at its Pascua-Lama gold and silver project on the Argentinean border after approving complaints from local indigenous groups until it addresses their environmental concerns. 

Mining collapse
Last year, Newmont Mining saw its Conga gold project in Peru brought to a standstill after environmental concerns were also raised. The government says it’s on the “back burner” now and with most of the locals opposed to it going forward, a project that was once estimated could yield some $2 billion annually in gold is now collecting cobwebs. Vale abandoned an iron ore project in Argentina after the country’s fiscal policies caused costs to soar and government and labor unions made untenable demands while Yamana Gold previously had operations suspended at its Agua Rica project in Argentina after violent clashes with locals and suspended export sales — since restarted — from Alumbrera after the country adopted revenue repatriation laws.

Sticker shock
Barrick, as the world’s biggest gold miner, had been looking to the $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama mine to carry it forward, but under development for a decade, the cost and scale of the project has escalated beyond its ability to control it. It subsequently outsourced much of the work to engineering and construction firm Fluor following the successful completion of its development of Pueblo Viejo, a joint venture between Barrick and Goldcorp.

Yet there’s trouble brewing there as environmentalists contend Barrick is violating the law against mining on or near glacial areas. Ejecting the gold miner from the country completely would not upset the groups arrayed against it.

Sic semper tyrannis
In the end, it becomes a question of whether the cost of doing business in South America is worth the risk. As many industries saw in Venezuela during strongman Hugo Chavez‘s rule, and as they’re witnessing now under his protege Cristina Kirchner, livelihoods will be expropriated on a whim or the cost of doing business will be raised to such a degree as a result of ruinous fiscal policy that it no longer makes economic sense to do business there.

Investors will not only need to question what the price of gold and silver will be in determining whether Barrick or Yamana or Goldcorp is a worthwhile investment, but considering geographic risk will become just as big a component of one’s due diligence.

Goldcorp is one of the leading players in the gold mining market. For the last several years, investors have been the beneficiaries of several successful acquisitions and strong organic growth. Goldcorp’s low-cost production of one of the most sought-after metals in the world continues to make this stock an attractive choice for long-term investors. To learn everything you need to know about this mining specialist, you’re invited to check out The Motley Fool’s premium

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/is-south-america-losing-its-luster-for-miners/

News, Politics, Government

Newmont's Conga Project In Peru Fates Uncertain Fate

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By Trefis Team, Contributor

Newmont Mining is keeping all options open as far as its Conga project in Peru is concerned. According to the company’s 2012 annual report, while it remains committed to the $4.8 billion project for the time being, continued opposition may force it to divert investments elsewhere. This may be a sign that Newmont is looking for an exit strategy from the project.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/04/12/newmonts-conga-project-in-peru-fates-uncertain-fate/

News, Politics, Government

Barrick suffering big setbacks in Latin America

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A Chilean court’s halt to construction of Barrick Gold Corp.’s $8 billion, border-straddling mine on the high spine of the Andes is only the latest setback in Latin America for the world’s largest gold miner.

Barrick also faces growing environmental resistance in Argentina, which shares the Pascua-Lama mine project, and the Dominican Republic‘s government is insisting on rewriting the royalty contract for its $4 billion Pueblo Viejo mine.

The Canadian company’s troubles reflect increased risks for the industry in Latin America, where authorities are taking a closer look at how mining is regulated and taxed. They are determined to capture more of the profits while protecting natural resources.

In country after country, the world’s biggest miners are facing new environmental standards, confronting changing tax and currency laws and defending long-term contracts they thought were written in stone.

Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. has seen its $5 billion Minas Conga project in Peru stalled amid violent protests over allegations of water pollution. Brazil’s Vale SA sank $2.2 billion into building a mine, railroad and port in Argentina before bailing out in frustration last month over soaring inflation and restrictive currency controls.

“There are more concerns about standards of living and more concerns about environmental issues. At the same time, there’s pressure on governments to increase mining revenues, improve education, health and services,” said Risa Grais-Targow, Latin American analyst at Eurasia Group.

“Peru has experienced exceptional growth, but many feel they have not benefited and have been left out. Most of the conflict there revolves around water, whereas in Chile there’s a growing middle class concerned about the environment.”

The court ruling against Barrick on Wednesday in Copiapo, Chile, sent shares of the Toronto-based company tumbling 6 percent to a new four-year low. The stock recovered some Thursday, rising 27 cents, or 1.1 percent, to close at $24.73 a share.

Chile‘s environmental and mining ministries are on record supporting the suspension of work on the Andes mine. Critics allege construction has spread dust that has settled on the nearby Toro 1, Toro 2 and Esperanza glaciers, hastening their retreat, and is threatening the Estrecho river, which supplies water to the Diaguita tribe living downstream.

Barrick said it will work “to address environmental and other regulatory requirements” on the Pascua side of the project. But it insisted

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/jS1wY6kakOY/