Panama’s greatest mine sits idle—and with it a nationwide debate about who controls the nation’s sources.
After the Supreme Court struck down the Cobre Panamá contract in late 2023 following big avenue protests, the federal government ordered an orderly shutdown and shifted the positioning into “care and upkeep” to guard the port, energy plant, and tailings.
Stockpiled copper was allowed to be shipped out to keep away from environmental and logistical dangers, however operations didn’t resume. Now President José Raúl Mulino’s administration is getting ready to speak with the proprietor, First Quantum Minerals.
The crimson line is obvious: any path ahead should state, unambiguously, that the land and the minerals belong to the Republic of Panama.
Economy and Finance Minister Felipe Chapman has paired that stance with fiscal guardrails—deficit targets of 4% this yr and three.5% in 2026—signaling that any deal should additionally work for the general public funds.
The backdrop explains why that is greater than a contract dispute. Before the shutdown, Cobre Panamá contributed roughly 5% of nationwide GDP, accounted for about three-quarters of products exports, and equipped round 1%–1.5% of world copper—metallic that feeds energy grids, EVs, and the broader power transition.
Studies tied 30,000–40,000 direct and oblique jobs to the mine. In 2023, output reached about 331,000 tonnes earlier than the court docket’s ruling introduced the ramp-down.
Panama’s Copper Mine Tests Governance and Global Supply
Those numbers underline the stakes for development, employment, and the forex of belief between authorities and residents. Legal and political obstacles have eased however not vanished.
First Quantum has suspended key arbitration instances, and Franco-Nevada paused its declare linked to a streaming deal—eradicating fast tripwires.
Yet Panama nonetheless has a moratorium on new mining concessions, and officers say they aren’t pushing a brand new “mining contract” by the present legislature.
That forces negotiators to seek for a construction that respects the court docket’s resolution, retains possession with the state, and might endure scrutiny.
Public opinion has softened from final yr’s peak anger—surveys counsel roughly half of Panamanians nonetheless oppose the mine, down from over 80%—and a large center might again reopening if the phrases assure environmental safeguards, credible oversight, and tangible native advantages.
That is the story behind the story: a society that demanded a reset now desires proof that guidelines, not personal leverage, will govern the nation’s most respected rocks.
For readers removed from Panama, this can be a check with world ripple results. If the mine restarts on sovereign-first phrases, copper provide loosens and a small nation exhibits tips on how to align pure wealth with constitutional limits and neighborhood consent.
If it doesn’t, the world’s copper stability tightens—and Panama writes a special playbook on how democracies implement the foundations when big initiatives lose their social license.
