Video: Cobre Panama mine closure investigated by Canada’s CTV News

Locals worry about the mine’s effects on drinking water and the Panama Canal, already driven by El Niño to its driest October since 1950. (Image courtesy of Panama’s National Workers Union — Suntracs.)

“How a Canadian copper mine triggered an uprising in Panama” was the tagline of a W5 investigation by CTV News aired on national television over the February long weekend.

W5 investigated how the Panamanian government’s 20-year mining concession with Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals triggered mass protests and civil unrest amid allegations of corruption and fears of environmental degradation — prompting the country’s Supreme Court to intervene.