“Yesterday I visited the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant. The name of this plant is Itaipu. It sits on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, on one of the largest rivers in Latin America, the Rio Parana.

A few months ago, I visited the largest coal-fired power plant in America, Plant Scherer. When Scherer operates at full capacity, it produces 3.5 gigawatts of power. A nuclear reactor produces around one gigawatt of power.

Itaipu produces 14 gigawatts of power. In other words, it’s four times the size of America’s largest coal power plant… and 14 times the size of most nukes. Itaipu provides 93% of Paraguay’s power and 25% of Brazil’s power.

I can’t explain in words what a beast this dam is. It stretches four miles across and 65 stories high. The iron and steel used to build it would give you 380 Eiffel Towers. It’s one of the seven modern wonders of the world, alongside the Panama Canal and the Golden Gate Bridge.

According to their joint agreement, Paraguay gets 50% of the electricity from the dam. Brazil gets 50%. But Paraguay is a small country. It has a population of 6 million people… versus 200 million in Brazil. So Paraguay only keeps 5% of Itaipu’s power and sells the rest back to Brazil.

This makes Paraguay the largest exporter of hydroelectric power in the world.

Here’s the thing: Paraguay sells its electricity to Brazil at $3 per megawatt-hour. Right now, Brazil can sell the same unit of electricity to its private utilities at $150 per megawatt-hour. There is an electricity crisis in Latin America right now, especially in Chile, and electricity prices are very high. It’s immediately obvious Brazil is not paying Paraguay the right price for its power. And Paraguay is losing billions of dollars.Corrupt politicians set this low price in 1973… under a 50-year contract. The Brazilians bribed the Paraguayan government to sell them power at a rate that’s far too low. Now, there are calls to change this rate, but who knows if that’ll happen…

The thing is, Paraguay doesn’t have to sell its power to Brazil. It could consume the power itself. I think it would be a great business to set up an aluminum or zinc smelter here. These businesses are electricity-intensive. The problem is, Paraguay is a poor country and has absolutely no industry. It’s all agriculture here.

According to the people at Itaipu, the energy the dam creates every day is the equivalent to 433,000 barrels of oil. That’s about half of what Canada’s Athabasca oil sands produce each day. Except it’s renewable, it’s clean, and it takes no energy to produce.

This cheap electricity is one of the reasons I like Paraguay as an investment. But it’s hard to get your money into the country…

Paraguay has no stock market… only a small bond market. So to invest in Paraguay, you’ll have to go there yourself and buy assets from the locals. That’s a good thing. It means everything is cheap.

In Paraguay, for example, you can buy companies for book value… that pay 45% dividends, according to one broker I met. You can buy real estate with 10% rental yields. And cattle farms with 18.5% cash yields.

More to come from Paraguay in my next column…

Good investing,

Tom

P.S. The Three Gorges Dam in China will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world by volume. It will operate at full capacity by 2011. China hopes it’ll produce 18 gigawatts. That’s bigger than Itaipu.

Our tour guide wasn’t convinced Three Gorges would be able to produce that much power. “The Yangtze isn’t as powerful as the Parana,” he said. “We’ll see…”

P.P.S. There is talk of a hydro plant twice the size of Three Gorges in Africa, on the Congo River. But it’ll never happen. For a start, only 10% of Africans have access to the grid… What will they do with all that power? And secondly, it will require cooperation from seven different central African countries… and hundreds of billions of dollars in loans.

Originally sourced here

TSX VENTURE: LAT

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – July 18, 2008) – Latin American Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LAT) is encouraged by assay results from 43 samples of 17 tailings ponds on its Paso Yobai gold property in Paraguay. The tailing ponds are dry, coarse grained rejects from gravity plants and average 55m in diameter. Assays ranged from 0.1 gpt to 102.7 gpt of gold.

The tailing pond assay results confirm surface continuity of the gold bearing zone along strike of the Discovery Zone, which has been traced by diamond drilling to a depth of 100m returning 26.64 gpt Au over 6.5m, including 43.08 gpt Au over 4m (Press Release January 16, 2008). Additionally, the high gold grades detected in the tailing ponds strongly suggest a significant loss of the fine gold as a result of the primitive milling and gravity techniques used by mill operators in the area.

The table below summarizes the tailing pond assay results including Minas Paraguay (Dump 1) and Minera Guira (Dump 2), the only fully-permitted mining operations on the Paso Yobai property. Also included are assay results from 15 other tailing ponds of local mill operators who processed gold bearing material from a 300 metre long trench excavated on the gold bearing zone immediately south along trend from the Discovery Zone.

In order to estimate head grades of the gold bearing material delivered to the local mills by the artisan miners, Latin American Minerals collected three mini-bulk samples of approximately 60 kilograms each from pits excavated by the company to expose the mineralized system. The samples contain high grade, medium grade and low grade material. Alex Stewart Assay Laboratories carried out a detailed screen assay analysis of these materials to determine the head grades for the various size fractions tested. Results are as follows:

1. Sandstone (host rock of the mafic dyke):

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Screen                             Weight %   Au gpt Distribution %
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+ 30                                   8.54     0.37           1.61
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+ 50                                  29.50     0.40           5.93
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+ 70                                   8.26     0.44           1.81
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+ 100                                 10.76     0.47           2.56
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+ 140                                 10.14     0.51           2.61
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+ 200                                  6.04     2.33           7.09
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- 200                                 26.76     5.83          78.39
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                                     100.00    1.990         100.00
-------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Mafic Dyke (medium grade):

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Screen                             Weight %   Au gpt Distribution %
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+ 30                                   6.12    15.33          10.22
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+ 50                                  18.12    23.14          47.64
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+ 70                                   8.90     8.67           8.41
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+ 100                                  9.80     9.50          10.14
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+ 140                                  8.82     5.18           4.98
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+ 200                                  6.80     4.66           3.45
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- 200                                 41.44     3.36          15.16
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                                     100.00    9.181         100.00
-------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Mafic Dyke (high grade):

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Screen                             Weight %   Au gpt Distribution %
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+ 30                                   5.06   138.75          10.45
-------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 50                                  22.60    97.20          32.71
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+ 70                                  10.20    94.49          14.35
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+ 100                                 10.62    93.09          14.72
-------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 140                                  8.42    78.69           9.87
-------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 200                                  5.48    75.43           6.15
-------------------------------------------------------------------
- 200                                 37.62    20.98          11.75
-------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     100.00   67.165         100.00
-------------------------------------------------------------------

These results show that most of the gold is very fine. In the sandstone, up to 89% of the gold is recovered at -200 mesh, and in the mafic dyke between 11 % and 15% of the gold is recovered at -200 mesh and 36% of the gold is recovered at -100 mesh. Only greater than 100 mesh material can be recovered from the gravity circuits of local mill operators, explaining why their recovery of fine gold has been low.

“The tailings assays show that Paso Yobai not only has great exploration potential, but that the existing tailing dumps host a significant value of gold. This production comes from 8 pits along 3 km of the 7 km gold trend in Paso Yobai,” observed Dr. Waldo Perez, Senior VP Exploration.

David Wahl, President and CEO, suggested, “Paso Yobai provides a unique opportunity for Latin American Minerals: the project is fully permitted for production, high grade gold mineralization is exposed on surface, is highly weathered, and can be extracted by mechanical excavators and processed by gravity to recover the coarse gold followed by a cyanide leach finish to recover the fine gold. Results of the ongoing metallurgical testing are expected within the next month.”

The Paso Yobai project comprises two nested mining concessions (Minas Paraguay and Minera Guaira) covering 7,200 ha and three exploration concessions covering 7,600 ha. The mining concessions entirely cover a new gold district 230 km east of Paraguay’s capital of Asuncion. Latin American Minerals optioned the mining concessions and acquired the exploration concessions in April 2007 and has since collected 12,000 soil samples, completed a 3,800 line kilometres helicopter borne EM and MAG survey, collected 800 rock chip and channel samples and diamond drilled 5,200 metres. Results have identified a 7 km long soil gold anomaly and a 2 km long Discovery Zone with mineralization confirmed by diamond drilling. Mineralization remains open along strike and to depth.

Dr. Waldo Perez, P.Geo., is Latin American Minerals Inc.’s internal Qualified Person under the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for this press release.

Latin American Minerals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development minerals projects in under-explored but highly prospective countries of Latin America.

Notes:

Sampling and Analytical Protocols: The sampling and analytical protocols were established, implemented and supervised by or under the direction of Dr. Waldo Perez, the Company’s internal Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The samples from the ponds weighted more than 5 Kg and were collected digging a hole in the pond between 1m and 3m deep. Two or three samples were collected in different locales of the pond. The screen assay samples were collected from the pits and weighted 60 Kg each. The sample preparation was carried on the Company’s sample preparation facility, operated by Company technicians under the direct onsite supervision and QA/QC provided by professionals from Alex Stewart Laboratories. Alex Stewart Assayers Argentina S.A. (”ASAA”) laboratory is an ISO 9001-certified laboratory with laboratory facilities in Mendoza, Argentina and headquarters in England. The tailing pond samples were dried, crushed and split. A total of 200 grams of sample have been separated for analysis The prepared samples were shipped by bonded courier to “ASAA” laboratories in Mendoza Argentina for analysis. The screen assay samples were sent to Alex Stewart Assayers in Peru. The samples were dried, crushed, split in each mesh. A total of 50 grams of each fraction in the sample have been separated for analysis. All samples were assayed for gold by Fire Assay with AA finish using 50 gram sample. Accuracy of results is tested through the systematic inclusion of blanks and certified reference standards.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as “could”, “potential”, “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “plan”, “likely”, “will” or other similar words or phrases. These forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Corporation’s beliefs in potential mineralization, are based on current expectations, assumptions and projections about future events and entail various risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Corporation’s ability to control or predict. Actual results may materially differ from expectations as more information regarding a property is gathered or if the Corporation’s estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Factors that may materially affect actual results include, but are not limited to, political, business and economic conditions in Argentina and in jurisdictions where the Corporation conducts business, and risks associated with mineral exploration and production. The Corporation does not intend, and does not assume any obligations, to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The results described herein are exploratory in nature and there can be no assurance that they are indicative of Mineral Resources as defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101.

The TSXV has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this release.