Bolt Resources PTY has applied to the Portuguese government to prospect for gold as a result of the discovery of gold particles by University of Algarve scientists, who were studying sediments in the river estuary in the area of Castro Marim.

The company will be prospecting for gold and silver as well as other valuable deposits like copper, zinc, lead, tin, tungsten and antimony.

It’s a known fact that precious minerals have been found in many parts of the Algarve region throughout the ages. During Roman times, various precious metal was mined across the Algarve region and up towards the Alentejo, alongside other useful metals such as tin and copper.

The search will focus on the Alcoutim and castro marim region – covering 576 square kilometers, however it will also focus on the Alentejo district of Mertola.

The scientists also theorized that Monchique might have some hidden reserves of gold and silver as well, but they wanted to emphasize that there is no evidence of large deposits of the metals.

This discovery of small gold particles happened back in 2007, but the company has only decided to explore the possibility this year.

Jose Estevens – the Mayor of Castro Marim – wasn’t aware of the Bold Resources plan so he wasn’t able to comment on the fact, but he did know about it after reading the official government publication and said that the initiative would be a benefit to the region.

The application for prospecting is subject to a 30-day waiting period in which time interested parties will be able to lodge objections or submit preferential rights to the Direção de Serviços de Minas e Pedreiras da Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia in Lisbon.

This all-embracing programme will include fifty new measures designed to produce more financial aid, increase the potential to expand business at the international level, streamline the training of employees linked to the two sectors while at the same time boosting the rate of employments.

The official document of commitment was signed in Lisbon, after which the Minister of Employment, Alvaro Santos Pereira, made a very inspirational statement saying that this day marks a change in an important sector to the country’s economic reform. He continued to say that this pledge is not a return to the past but a road to a more sustainable future.

The rescue package comes in response to the glaring need for more competitive and sustainable forces in the construction sector. The Minister added that the Portuguese Government is not going to adopt the defeatist policy of seeking bailout assistance from the outside.

The Governmental pledge to aid municipal authorities pay their debts to builders stays firm, and in order to achieve this 750 million Euros have already been contracted.

The Government is aware of the importance of the real estate and building sectors, the Minister mentioning this as well as the fact that it is necessary to consolidate public spending while helping them.

As we mentioned earlier the programme will also include various project for urban rehabilitation, internationalization and professional training within these sectors.

The Government rescue package is focused on real estate and construction because these two sectors are crucial to the recovery of growth in Portugal, they employ more than six hundred thousand people and account for 18% of GDP.

One of the measures in the rescue package programme, meant to curb unemployment, is to retrain people from other areas of work to transfer them to the construction and real estate sectors, or their ramifications.

Another of the measures also wants to provide companies in those sectors access to credit lines and EU funding.

It appears to tat the International Monetary Fund – IMF – sees some untapped financial potential for the Portuguese government to increase the VAT on goods and services like wine, processed foods and cultural events thus further widening the tax base. The current VAT for these is set at 13% and the IMF suggests that it can go up to 23%.

This assessment is part of the IMF country report which is part of the sixth evaluation of Portugal’s bailout programme.

While the IMF recognizes that equity concerns are the main argument for the reduced VAT rates, when it comes to more absolute terms, higher income earners end up benefiting much more from it than those with medium and low incomes.

This would mean that significantly reducing the number of goods and services that are subject to these lower and intermediate VAT rates can be a “positive policy”.

What this means in more clear information is that all of the items subject to the intermediate rate of 13% – wine, cultural events, processed food – would start being taxed at the maximum rate of 23%.

This will mean that the minimum VAT rate of 6% which is applicable to meat, fish, vegetables and other basics, would see a rise to the intermediate rate of 13%.

The report concludes saying that the country faces a very significant challenge to complete its fiscal consolidation while also enhancing the equity and efficiency of its fiscal policy.

While all of this reporting was going on, many Portuguese organizations have already staged protests against the suggested VAT rise with the president of the Farmers Confederation of Portugal saying that his organization is totally against the VAT hikes for farming produce because the measure won’t bring in more tax revenue, but it will instead hurt the entire chain from producers to consumers.

Why has this not happened sooner? Well the protest was sparked by the decision of the Portuguese Government to not extend the exemption granted to residents beyond the end of September, even if by all accounts the tourism sector was on the whole expecting it.

Eliderico Viegas, a major representative of the Algarve tourism sector said that when it comes to these tolls there should be no discrimination between residents of the Algarve and those visiting, so they tolls should be suspended completely; further stating that the introduction of the tolls has shown to be an anti-tourism decision and thus against the interests of the entire region.

He backed up these claims by pointing out the fifty percent reduction in traffic on the A22 highway and a whopping twenty percent drop in the number of tourists coming from Spain, saying that these were enough reasons to eliminate the tolls immediately. The Algarve car rental industry and Faro airport transfers services has seen some problems as well.

Antonio Pina, the President of the Algarve Tourism Board, said that he too wasn’t surprised by the Government’s decision but also mentioned that it does threaten to be the ‘blow that would sink the Tourism Algarve ship’, pretty strong words indeed.

He continued to say that there is an urgent need to completely suspend the A22 tolls as well as oppose any and all attempt by the Government to either extend or withdraw any exemption for residents because this is an unacceptable discriminatory policy.

Will the 1^st of October protest combined with these harsh words from leading figures in the Algarve tourism sector sway the Government in any way? We have no way of knowing that, we’ll just keep an eye on what happens in the future of A22 toll and report on it.