The following blog was co-authored by Viviana Herrera (MiningWatch Canada) and Paulina Personius (Earthworks).
Operations have been stopped at the Cobre Panama copper mine since December 2023, when the Panamanian Supreme Court ruled the operating contract for the Canadian-owned mine was unconstitutional. But there are growing fears the mine may soon reopen. First Quantum Minerals, the mine's Canadian owner, filed a $20 billion (USD) arbitration suit in international courts shortly after the contract was cancelled, alongside its Korean partner KOMIR, its Panamanian subsidiary, and two other companies in its supply chain. Earlier this month, First Quantum advised its lawyers to suspend the arbitration case against Panama in order "to discuss the reopening of the mine." Panama’s president had previously stated that the Canadian company must drop the arbitration against Panama as a condition of negotiating the reopening of the mine.
In response, hundreds of Panamanians have taken to the streets in the last week to protest negotiations to reopen the Cobre Panama mine and to denounce the criminalization of peaceful protest. They reaffirm a clear message: Defending water and territories continues to be an urgent struggle and Panama is worth more without mining.
The demand is reminiscent of the historic 2023 protests against the mine’s environmental impacts in an area that is part of a protected region known as the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. The renewed public repudiation of the Cobre Panama mine came as the Panamanian government debated Legislative Bill 462, which reforms the country's social security fund to the detriment of workers’ rights and which has seen strong opposition. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino had previously stated that he wanted to address the social security reforms before discussing mining issues in the country or any next steps regarding Cobre Panama.
After national elections held in May of 2024, President Mulino put forward the idea of reopening the mine to extract more minerals to pay for the closure process. “Reopening to close,” as put forth by Mulino’s administration, has been widely rejected by workers, civil society organizations, and communities near the mine concession area since the beginning. As a condition of negotiating the reopening of the mine, the president stated that the Canadian company must drop the arbitration against Panama.
Reopening the mine would require the president to overturn the indefinite mining moratorium on new mining concessions that the country put into place in November of 2023. The mine also does not have a contract to resume operations (the December 2023 decision was the second time the company has had its contract revoked). Neither the current government nor the mining company have clarified how a new contract would differ from the previous two.
“The only thing that the Panamanian government and First Quantum should be coordinating is a safe and transparent closure process,” said Lilian González Guevara, Executive Director of the Environmental Advocacy Center (CIAM), one of the more than 40 organizations that make up the Panama is Worth More Without Mining Movement and part of the Technical Working Group for the Closure of Mines in Panama.
Efforts to reopen the mine are moving forward despite historic nationwide protests against the mine in 2023 and amid ongoing, large-scale opposition by Panamanian civil society. In spite of a widespread public relations campaign directed by the company, the latest national poll found 63.6% of respondents oppose the mine’s reactivation and “60% disagree with the revision of the contract between First Quantum and the Panamanian State by President Mulino.”
The arbitration lawsuit filed by First Quantum comes through an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision of the Canada-Panama free trade agreement. ISDS cases often serve to delay or halt regulatory reforms that protect communities or the environment from harmful projects. The company has used this mechanism to pressure the Panamanian government – first in 2023 when courts annulled the mining contract and later, as a strategy to reopen the mine. Multiple UN bodies and experts have recommended that ISDS not be included in new trade agreements and that they be removed from existing ones, warning that ISDS shackles states in their efforts to combat climate change and to uphold their international human rights obligations. However, the suspension of ISDS cases against Panama should not come at the expense of Panama’s reactivation of the mine. Instead, PVMSM and their international allies want to see these cases dropped, and for First Quantum to respect Panama’s legal system and the mining moratorium.
At the end of last year, First Quantum’s mine came under further environmental scrutiny when a report by Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) found that the mine’s tailings dam is at a very serious and imminent risk of failure due to poor monitoring and internal erosion.
Carlos Cruz, a member of Guerreros del Mar or the Warriors of the Sea, an organization composed of impacted communities near the mine concession, stated that, “we are worried about the declaration from the Minister of the Environment that there is no contamination. Thousands of hectares of virgin mountains have been devastated, and contaminated tailings are filtering into the groundwater that connects with the headwaters of rivers that sustain thousands of residents in the district of Donoso. So far, the government has been ignoring the Supreme Court decision that made it clear that the mine contract was unconstitutional. The Warriors of the Sea say no to mining, and yes to life and dignified environmental conditions for future generations.”
Indigenous and coastal communities near the Cobre Panama mine have denounced how “their water sources are contaminated, leading to the disappearance of important species, the destruction of wetlands, and health issues among residents.” Indigenous peoples have also experienced “restrictions on movement and unexplained illness and death” due to the presence of the mine.
Panama is Worth More Without Mining Movement has called for more national actions in defense of a Panama free from mining as they “reject metallic mining and the inadequate management of the Minera Panama [First Quantum’s Panamanian subsidiary] case, which is once again threatening the rule of law, citizen security, the sustainability of ecosystems and the wellbeing of future generations.” Instead, communities and civil society organizations call on the government to implement a safe and transparent closure plan, address the serious tailings stability issues, and work with communities in Donoso to build alternate, sustainable economies.
Photo: National strike on March 21, 2025 against Bill 462 and the reopening of the Cobre Panama mine. Credit: Guerreros del Mar