VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 18, 2011) - Aguila American Gold Limited ("Aguila") or (The "Company") or (News - Market indicators) Reports;
On July 28th, 2011 president-elect Ollanta Humala will be sworn in as the next President of Peru for a 5 year term. Along with this ceremony, the new Peruvian Parliament will also begin to take their seats. Incoming President Humala's party mandate represents approximately one third of the Parliament in a democratic country where 32% of population are currently living in poverty. Both leading presidential candidates cited; "the elimination of extreme poverty" as one of their top priorities during their presidential election campiagns.
Since the federal election results were announced on June 5th 2011, major mining companies with operations in Peru have begun to relay confidence in president-elect Humala's vision for socio- economic development alongside a burgeoing domestic mining industry. A recent Thompson Reuters report released on June 8th, 2011 cited comments from top economic advisors of the president-elect Humala reiterating assurances to soundly manage one of the world's fastest-growing emerging market economies.
A July 7th article published on Bloomberg.com also cited positive commentary from, the president of the National Society of Mining, Petroleum & Energy in Peru, Mr. Pedro Martinez. Mr. Martinez also highlights president-elect Humala's intentions to meet with mining companies and continue open discourse on the windfall profit tax of producing mining companies (as opposed to a previously proposed "unilateral corporate tax"). According to the article, key representatives will meet with Humala's advisors to reach a solution that will seek to support the competitiveness of Peru's national resource industry.
"We must be very careful with tax policy as the key for investors is confidence," Martinez told reporters in Lima. "If we don't send clear signals to investors that this growth model will continue, we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot." The article also noted that representatives from the industry group will meet with Humala's advisers to reach a "technical" solution that will allow the Peruvian resource industry to compete with other top nations such as; Chile and Canada.
In addition to positive commentary from senior parliamentarians, Congress in Peru has also recently enacted a law which will create an additional retirement pension fund for miners. The bill will be funded by a 0.5% levy on workers payroll and another 0.5% on corporate profits thereby recognizing the demands of local miners who had threatened to strike if the bill was not passed.
Positive post-election reports have also stemmed from major producers with operations in Peru. Xstrata Mining (XTA.L) and Buenaventura (BVN.N) have both publicly reaffirmed their intent to proceed with a combined $8.7 Billion in capital investments dedicated to the advancement of their gold, copper and industrial mineral exploration and production projects in Southwestern Peru. Xstrata latest major Peruvian development project, the Las Bambas Mine, is located less than 25 km from Aguila's flagship gold property; Angostura. Such encouraging industry reports have further strengthened the general confidence in the direction of the evolving poli-economic climate in Peru.
CEO and President, John Huguet observes that; "the abundance of natural riches in Peru is particularly evident in the mining sector, where the strength of commodity prices and precious metals prices continue to contribute significantly to robust GDP growth in the country. Incoming President Humala has stated that working with corporate interests in the mining sector to negotiate a means to distribute windfall profits as mechanism to relieve, and address, the extreme poverty is top objective of his future administration. To date the major producers in the mining sector in the region have all voluntarily contributed to this approach."
"With over 40 billion dollars of new capital expenditures slated for development of key mineral resource projects in Peru, we anticipate the national mining industry to continue to be governed by the democratic rule of law. In doing so, we anticipate effective stabilization agreements will be honored and a properly negotiated settlement will be achieved whereby the needs of the Peruvian people and the needs of the investment community will both be addressed and come away from the negotiating process with a mutually beneficial solution."
President John Huguet is an established senior executive in the resource industry who has worked, and invested, in Peru through seven Presidential terms and has served as the President of the Vancouver chapter of the Peruvian Canadian Business Council since 1994.
About Aguila
Aguila American Gold Ltd. is an emerging gold exploration company, with an experienced geological and executive management team focused on advancing and developing their flagship prospecptive gold project; Angostura. This highly prospective gold property is located in the Department of Apurimac, in southwestern Peru.
Angostura rests on a prolific mineral trend, approximately 25km from the Las Bambas Mine, a 4.5 billion mineral production project spearhead by Xstrata Mining. The Angostura Gold Project is comprised of eight mineral exploration concessions where recent exploration programs have identified two key mineralized zones along a 4.8km surface strike and where surface sampling and trenching has exposed mineralized areas up to 75m wide (open in all directions).
