Pacific Rim Mining Corp. (TSX:PMU)(OTCQX:PFRMF)  announces that the investment dispute of its US subsidiary PacRim Cayman, LLC  with the Government of El Salvador  will proceed to the merits portion of the arbitration case.

 

 A Tribunal at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes has issued its ruling on objections filed by the GOES and decided that the case will proceed under El Salvador\’s Foreign Investment Law.The GOES filed \”jurisdictional\” objections to PacRim\’s claims under the Investment Law as well as under the Dominican Republic-United States-Central America Free Trade Agreement (\”CAFTA\”). In its ruling, the Tribunal rejected all of the GOES\’s objections to PacRim\’s claims under the Investment Law. The Tribunal also rejected most of the GOES\’s objections under CAFTA (including rejecting the GOES\’s assertion that the case constituted an \”abuse of process\”). However, while concluding that PacRim is in fact a US company and is part of a group of companies that has substantial business activities in the USA, the Tribunal concluded that PacRim by itself does not have sufficiently \”substantial\” business activities in the USA to proceed with its claims under CAFTA. Accordingly, the arbitration claim can and will proceed under the Investment Law alone. ICSID, a branch of the World Bank, will continue to oversee this claim at its headquarters in Washington, DC.

\”We look forward to proceeding to the merits portion of the arbitration case to recover the value of the El Dorado asset,\” states Tom Shrake, President and CEO. \”We are very confident in the merits of this case. The fact that it will proceed under the Investment Law alone rather than under both sets of trade rules has no impact on the case. What is relevant is the fact that we will continue to protect our company\’s rights with ICSID, at the World Bank. It is our hope the Government of El Salvador will put an end to this dispute and put her people and our industry back to work. Every mining concession in El Salvador has been expropriated resulting in the loss of jobs, tax revenues and stability, as well as Salvador\’s standing in the foreign investment community.\”