reasoned comments by Bamako today on SH:
the peruvian/ecuadorian border was for a long time a no-man's land due to internecine border skirmishes between the two countries and destabilization by the maoist shining path movement, long extinguished. years ago, a major had explored the area not far from bolsa del diablo, found intriguing surface samples but left. the data on their exploration showed their conduct to be cursory at best. moreover, at the time, gold was a lot cheaper. plexmar fortuitously heard rumours of artisanal miners amassing along the bolsa del diablo area. to its credit, the company followed up on these rumours. remember at the time, the company had drilled their cascajal project to poor results (although it would turn out later that they likely did not go deep enough as another company tookover that one section of the cascajal claims and started extraction. plexmar still holds all claims surrounding this very small extraction area, however). back to bdd, the border area to a distance of 50 kms was also for a long time designated a special area for the reasons of national security given the reasons i aforementioned.
but the artisanal activity gave the area a new reality and the rules were not in place just yet, although the 'terms' were open to negotiation. it was not a black and white case whereby a company could not plausibly come to an agreement with local communities to formalize a more considered exploration program that would of course include drilling. afterall, companies were allowed to apply for claims which were granted (as in the case of plexmar). additionally, the national government granted the company an exploration license. the unanticipated holdup was the issue of communal accord. it was not a legal question but absent of such an accord, it would be inflammatory to the citizens of the area (comprised mostly of indigenous peoples) to proceed further with exploration. in hindsight, everyone can be a monday morning quarterback. but the question at the time was this: given the extensive artisanal activity and promising surface sampling, should the company not have proceeded to try further. remember, the company also was granted rights to do a line survey of the bolsa which showed further promising information.
the world of venture capital is a risky one and much of the risk here was premised on the willingness to 'venture' ahead of the herd (as the cliche goes). given a competitive environment, was the company right in trying to pursue its course 'a priori' of a communal agreement, in light of all the other requirements that were fully and officially granted? should the company not have believed that an agreement was possible and it was worth the risk to pursue and expect it to be resolved reasonably expeditiously? the company may be faulted for other things, but not for this.
now seems highly likely that an agreement is pending (i say this advisedly after so many false starts). this time, the artisanals themselves see an agreement part of their own interests and that is a big step forward. the ip survey which indicates a huge conduit under the bolsa cap, the channel samplings, the extensive gold at surface--all of this is true. these factors all point to something potentially signfiicant? will a big discovery be borne out? that is for drilling to decide.
