Panama will allow controversial mine to export already mined copper to fund maintenance

Key Points

• Panama authorizes export of over 120,000 tons of already mined copper concentrate to fund maintenance and environmental protection at the inactive mine site.
• The mine was closed after widespread protests and a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that deemed its 20-year concession with Canada’s First Quantum Minerals unconstitutional.
• Before its shutdown, copper exports from the mine contributed nearly 5% of Panama’s GDP in its last operating year.
• Authorities emphasize the mine is not reopening and that exports aim solely to cover site upkeep and prevent environmental damage.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama will allow a controversial mine that was closed after months of protests to export more than 120,000 tons of already mined copper concentrate to pay the costs of maintaining the inactive mine site, government officials announced Friday.

Opposition to the massive copper mine led to some of Panama’s most widespread protests in recent years before the country's Supreme Court rejected a deal that allowed a Canadian company to operate it.

Toronto-based First Quantum Minerals said Friday that exporting the material that's sitting at the site will fund maintenance and environmental protection measures.

Panama's President José Raúl Mulino called for those steps in March, when business groups were lobbying him to reopen the mine. Income from the mine accounted for nearly 5% of Panama gross domestic product the last year it operated.

“The purpose is to avoid, above all else, environmental damage,” Trade and Industry Minister Julio Moltó said Friday. He emphasized that the mine was not reopening, but said that the plan would ensure the site remained safe.

The open-pit mine was temporarily closed in 2022 when talks between the government and First Quantum broke down over payments the government wanted. In March 2023, Panama’s Congress reached an agreement with First Quantum, allowing subsidiary Panama Copper to continue operating the mine in a biodiverse jungle on the Atlantic coast west of the capital for at least 20 more years.

The deal faced opposition from those who believed Panama wasn’t getting as much as it should and from environmentalists and Indigenous groups who raised concerns about the mine’s impact.

Protests included a blockade of the mine’s power plant. Protesters also blocked parts of the Pan American highway, including a stretch near the border with Costa Rica.

On Nov. 28, 2023, Panama’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the 20-year concession was unconstitutional and then-President Laurentino Cortizo announced the start of a process to close the mine.