Panama Panel Backs Path to Cobre Panama Restart
The panel said a restart could help fund closure and rehabilitation while settling arbitration claims tied to the 2023 shutdown.
- On Wednesday, a Panamanian government commission recommended reopening the shuttered Cobre Panama copper mine to fund an "orderly closure," causing shares of Canadian-owned First Quantum Minerals to drop more than 30 percent in Toronto trading.
- President Jose Raul Mulino's administration shuttered the site in 2023 after a Supreme Court ruling declared the 20-year concession unconstitutional, following widespread anti-mining protests that paralyzed much of the country.
- Before its closure, the site accounted for 75 percent of Panama's exports and 5 percent of its GDP, while the shutdown resulted in the loss of more than 6,000 direct and 30,000 indirect jobs.
- Commerce Minister Julio Molto stressed, "An operation of this scale is not closed in a year or five," as First Quantum seeks $27 billion in damages and Finance Minister Felipe Chapman noted legal files remain open.
- Mulino intends to study the recommendations carefully before deciding the mine's future, while First Quantum stated it will engage "constructively and in good faith" to establish a legal framework aligned with the country's laws.
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Panama ministers push for reopening of huge open-pit copper mine
A Panamanian government commission on Wednesday recommended that President Jose Raul Mulino reactivate Central America's largest open-pit copper mine, a Canadian-owned operation that was shut down in 2023 following widespread protests.
Panama panel recommends First Quantum mine restart to fund phased closure
By Elida Moreno and Divya Rajagopal PANAMA CITY, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A Panamanian government commission on Wednesday recommended opening formal negotiations with First Quantum Minerals to set conditions to reopen the shuttered Cobre Panama mine, one of...
Toronto (Canada), 30 Sep (EFE).- Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals said on Wednesday that it is ready to negotiate "in good faith" with the Government of Panama a new legal framework for Cobre Panama, after a government commission recommended its "orderly closure." The company reacted thus to the report delivered this Wednesday to the president [...] The First Quantum entry opens to negotiate "in good faith" with Panama the future o…
The mine operator, First Quantum Mineral, initiated international litigation to demand $27 billion (30% of Panamanian GDP) in compensation for the closure, but temporarily suspended them pending a final government decision on its reopening. The deposit, located in the Caribbean, was operated by the Canadian company and its production represented 75% of Panama’s exports and 5% of Panama’s GDP. However, the Supreme Court of Justice declared the co…
The Commission ensures that discussions with the company do not compromise the State with a result, but rather enable it to determine what conditions may form part of an agreement that will safeguard the interests of the Republic.
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