LatinNews Daily - 16 December 2022

*Panama’s government led by President Laurentino Cortizo has ordered Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FQM), which owns the major copper mine Cobre Panamá via its subsidiary Minera Panamá (MPSA), to pause operations at the mine. The order follows the company’s failure to finalise a long-awaited contract by the government’s deadline of 14 December. In January 2022, First Quantum had agreed to increase its royalty payments to US$375m a year, among other changes to its contract but the new contract had yet to be completed prompting the government to set the December deadline. According to a FQM statement in response to the failure to seal the deal, the “necessary legal protections on termination, stability and transition arrangements could not be agreed upon. MPSA remains available and open to further constructive dialogue.” Located in Donoso district, Colón province, Cobre Panama has 3.0bn tonnes of proven and probable reserves and is one of the largest new copper mines opened globally in the past decade. The mine, which can produce 300,000 t a year at full capacity, began commercial operations in 2019 and accounts for some 3.5% of Panama’s GDP. According to the FQM statement, “over the past 25 years, First Quantum and its predecessor have invested at least US$10bn” in building the mine which it describes as “the largest private investment in the history of Panama”.

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