President-elect of Panama would talk with Canadian mining company if arbitrations are suspended

The elected president of Panama, José Raúl Mulinothis Thursday made a possible conversation with the Canadian First Quantum Minerals about the future of the large Cobre Panamá mine subject to the suspension of the arbitration processes activated by the company after the closure of the deposit at the end of 2023 by order of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).

“To speak in good faith, the arbitrations have to be suspended (…) I am not going to talk about mine without those arbitrations being suspended in good faith, that would be a framework that I would greatly appreciate if we want to talk calmly“, declared the president-elect during an interview with the radio program Panama En Directo.

First Quantum Minerals has repeatedly expressed its hope of being able to sit down to negotiate with the new Government of Panama to find a negotiated solution to the mine conflict, which at its peak had a payroll of 7,000 workers.

The Cobre Panamá open pit mine, the largest in Central America and which in 2022 represented 2% of global mineral production, stopped operating at the end of 2023 after the Supreme Court declared, for the second time, the concession contract unconstitutional.

The Court ruled on the unconstitutionality of the contract – renegotiated for more than a year by the outgoing Government of Laurentino Cortizo – in the heat of the largest public protests registered in decades in Panama against mining, although local analysts and Mulino himself maintain that “the mine paid for other people’s losses”, in relation to the fact that the masses also protested against corruption, unemployment and the high cost of living.

First Quantum announced the initiation of international arbitration before a court based in Miami (USA) and has shown its intention to initiate others based on trade agreements with Canada and South Korea after the closure of the mine, which began to be exported represented 4.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 75% of Panama’s exports, according to data from the company, which began exporting that mineral in 2019.

Mulino, 64 years old and who will take office on July 1, highlighted that “for now“has not defined what will be done with the mine, although he made it clear that”The only thing that will not be is to repeat that contract (declared unconstitutional) or take it as a reference” for other.

“I have said and I reiterate: the mine will be approached very responsibly and I expect the same from the other party (First Quantum). The Government is the owner of that concession and that criterion will prevail“Mulino added.

“The ideal is to reach a good agreement to open and close.“added the president-elect, and stressed that the Cobre Panamá mine is an investment”greater than channel expansion” interoceanic, of about US$ 10,000 million according to the Canadian mining company, with facilities that include a 3,000 megawatt thermoelectric plant, and “That must be valued in its proper dimension.”.

Last February, the outgoing Government of Laurentino Cortizo approved a strategy for the orderly and definitive closure of the mine, a process that will take between 7 and 9 years to execute and cost between 800 and 1,000 million dollars, according to official data.

“In order to close it (the mine) it must be opened so that it generates those flows“necessary,”how are you“Now the facility, with more than 120,000 tons of accumulated copper concentrate, “It is a very big risk for biodiversity, ecology and all these aromatic herbs.”said Mulino.

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