Deep sea mining puts $560 billion in land extraction at risk — report
Even in optimal scenarios, the activity would generate only $6.25 million in tax revenue for countries involved, says Planet Tracker.
Hundreds of Panamanian construction workers staged a demonstration at a shuttered copper mine that has become the subject of nationalistic sentiment in the Central American nation.
Members of the Suntracs union waved flags at the entrance to the mine operated by Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and hung a giant sign across the main gate that read: “This is sovereign territory” on Tuesday.
Suntracs, which played a key role in protests that led to the mine’s closure late last year, planned the demonstration to coincide with Martyrs’ Day, which commemorates anti-US riots in 1964 over sovereignty of the Panama Canal.
While the objectives of the demonstration were unclear, it’s the latest sign of the role played by resource nationalism in the shutdown of the Cobre Panama mine. A process to extend its operating contract sparked street protests, a withdrawal of government support and a Supreme Court ban — all in the lead-up to general elections in May.
Both First Quantum and a separate union of mine workers have called on security forces to prevent unrest at the mine site, where the Vancouver-based company still has some workers and installations.
Separately, Suntracs is staging protests in Panama’s capital city and several provinces over the closing of union bank accounts. The union didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
(By James Attwood and Michael McDonald)
2 Comments
Bobby44
Suntracs is a construction labor union. I believe they were at the mine during construction and are angry at being forced off-site by the union representing the mine workers. So they have been leading this event from the start and have a lot of power in the nation. Enough to whip the elected government and the courts. I believe they think there is still a chance for them to get 7000 new members at the mine after they ‘ straighten things out’. It is just money! The union is showing that the money needs to be in the right pocket.
OTOH/IMHO
“While the objectives of the demonstration were unclear…” What’s really unclear is where the members of the Suntracs union expect their next paycheck to come from.