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A dispute between First Quantum Minerals and Panama over the Canadian company’s flagship copper mine in the Central American nation is an issue for the people of Panama to decide, a top US official told Reuters.
In a surprise move late last year, Panama ordered the closure of Cobre Panama mine, one of the biggest and the newest copper mines in the world, which accounted for about 40% of First Quantum’s revenue in 2023.
“We have followed the case, and it is an issue for the Panamanian people to decide… and I know it is a situation where some communities, not all have expressed opposition,” Jose W. Fernandez, US under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment said late on Monday.
Fernandez was responding to Reuters‘ question whether the US, which has close relations with Canada and Panama, had taken up the issue of weakening investment climate in the Central American country.
“The US and Canadian governments have been very supportive but we do not comment on specific discussions,” First Quantum said in reply to a Reuters query on whether it had asked Canada or US to intervene in the issue.
The company is seeking $20 billion through international arbitration from Panama over the mine closure order.
Canadian Trade Minister Mary Nag said in February the government aims to support First Quantum “as best as it can” without elaborating.
Panama holds presidential elections in May, and the future of Cobre Panama mine has emerged as a flash point among opponents and supporters of the mine.
First Quantum shares have lost about half their value since the street protests and last month it announced a series of capital restructuring measures to reduce debt.
Without specifically referring to Panama, Fernandez said that communities need to be convinced they will benefit from mining.
On Monday, the US and its thirteen allies announced a critical minerals partnership to only support projects that follow high environmental, social and governance standards, Fernandez said.
But he said the initiative is not an attempt to force developing countries to choose one country over the other, but to provide alternative.
Currently over 90% of the world’s critical mineral supply chain is dominated by China, and western countries have expressed the need to diversify the supply chain in critical metals.
(By Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Denny Thomas and Marguerita Choy)
2 Comments
Joseph Gonzalez
Hello. First-of-all: I’m an American born-&-raised in the now-former Panama Canal Zone (I’m an “Air-Force brat”), and i would-like everyone in the world to-know the following:
This mine should have NEVER been-built in the FIRST place. It was done COMPLETELY “hush hush” and WITHOUT the *EXPLICIT* PRIOR PERMISSION-*AND*-CONSENT of the people that live in this country, let-alone the Panamanian citizens.
Also: the mine was built in PROTECTED LAND; it was built COMPLETELY *INSIDE* a NATIONAL PARK.
If this thing were tried (let-alone attempted. Let-alone done) in Canada, the person responsible would be run out of town, let-alone sent DIRECTLY to jail for the rest of his-or-her natural life. “Do NOT pass “Go”, do NOT collect $200. Go DIRECTLY to *JAIL*”, Monopoly—board-game style.
There CLEARLY was bribery involved, and “behind closed-doors” deals, & “under-the-table” deals. And now that the damage is done, and the damage is so obvious that even the-MASSES woke-up (and—not-solely the percentage of people that were against-this-project in the FIRST place), First-Quantum is CONSTANTLY putting-out advertisements all spewing the rhetoric that “Mining is SAFE” and “it is CLEAN” & videos “explaining” how the process works, etc etc.
Various experts from around-the-world have claimed that they’re-mining—in-there stuff that isn’t-even in the contract, INCLUDING *gold* and silver and other precious-metals and not-just Copper [like the-contract says to do]. (And proof is that they’re also-doing other unauthorized_and/or_illegal_and/or_”not in the contract” things like damming-up more-rivers-&-streams & diverting-Water to God-knows-where for the purpose of “Mining”, when other experts have-already come-out on the-record saying that the-way they were mining [for] the copper, you didn’t NEED water, but you DO need-it (ie. water / the water) for GOLD.
Also: this damn project of theirs has literally dried-up THREE rivers that ran—through the area, one of them that was—supposed-to-be a “backup river” in-case the Chagres-river EVER did-not—supply the-Panama-Canal with enough water for its running/operation*.
*(when i was in Elementary school, and my class took a tour of the Miraflores locks, and we asked the Locks-employee (who was giving the tour) why not use wait-water instead-of fresh water, and he said that salt-water would corrode the machinery.
It made sense.
Every single time my uncle would use his 4-wheel ATV on the-beach, he would always give every nook and cranny of it, including under it on all the machinery-&-engine-areas, a good dousing-&-hosing with fresh water, to remove any salt, dust, dirt, grime, beach-sand, etc etc, that got in-there.
This damn mine should have NEVER been-built in the FIRST-place and “First Quantum” Mineral damn well knows-it.
Also: the mine isn’t even closed. They SAY it is closed but eyewitnesses that live in the areas adjacent to where the mine is say the mine is in operation as usual, and that there’s-always trucks going in-&-out of the area to get all minerals out [and/or at-least as-much-as-they-can] before they are run-out—of-town.
Joe Gonzalez
I need-to-correct some Grammatical-&-punctuation-errors in my most-recent post.
⬇️⬇️⬇️
Hello. First-of-all: I’m an American born-&-raised in the now-former Panama Canal Zone (I’m an “Air-Force brat”), and i would-like everyone in the world to-know the following:
This mine should have NEVER been-built in the FIRST place. It was done COMPLETELY “hush hush” and WITHOUT the *EXPLICIT* PRIOR PERMISSION-*AND*-CONSENT of the people that live in this country, let-alone the Panamanian citizens.
Also: the mine was built in PROTECTED LAND; it was built COMPLETELY *INSIDE* a NATIONAL PARK.
If this thing were tried (let-alone attempted. Let-alone done) in Canada, the person responsible would be run out of town, let-alone sent DIRECTLY to jail for the rest of his-or-her natural life. “Do NOT pass “Go”, do NOT collect $200. Go DIRECTLY to *JAIL*”, Monopoly—board-game style.
There CLEARLY was bribery involved, and “behind closed-doors” deals, & “under-the-table” deals. And now that the damage is done, and the damage is so obvious that even the-MASSES woke-up (and—not-solely the percentage of people that were against-this-project in the FIRST place), First-Quantum is CONSTANTLY putting-out advertisements all spewing the rhetoric that “Mining is SAFE” and “it is CLEAN” & videos “explaining” how the process works, etc etc.
Various experts from around-the-world have (not-only on the record but-also off the record) claimed that they’re-mining—in-there stuff that isn’t-even in the contract, INCLUDING *gold* and silver and other precious-metals and not-just Copper [like the-contract says to do]. (And proof is that they’re also-doing other unauthorized_and/or_illegal_and/or_”not in the contract” things like damming-up more-rivers-&-streams & diverting-Water to God-knows-where for the purpose of “Mining”, when other experts have-already come-out on the-record saying that the-way they were mining [for] the copper, you didn’t NEED water, but you DO need-it (ie. water / the water) for GOLD).
Also: this damn project of theirs has literally dried-up THREE rivers that ran—through the area, one of them that was—supposed-to-be a “backup river” in-case the Chagres-river EVER did-not—supply the-Panama-Canal with enough water for its running/operation*.
*(when i was in Elementary school, and my class took a tour of the Miraflores locks, and we asked the Locks-employee (who was giving the tour) why not use wait-water instead-of fresh water, and he said that salt-water would corrode the machinery.
It made sense.
Every single time my uncle would use his 4-wheel ATV on the-beach, he would always give every nook and cranny of it, including under it on all the machinery-&-engine-areas, a good dousing-&-hosing with fresh water, to remove any salt, dust, dirt, grime, beach-sand, etc etc, that got in-there).
This damn mine should have NEVER been-built in the FIRST-place and “First Quantum” Mineral damn well knows-it.
Also: the mine isn’t even closed. They SAY it is closed but eyewitnesses that live in the areas adjacent to where the mine is say the mine is in operation as usual, and that there’s-always trucks going in-&-out of the area to get all minerals out [and/or at-least as-much-as-they-can] before they are run-out—of-town.