The following blog was written by Viviana Herrera of MiningWatch Canada and Paulina Personius of Earthworks.
Today 101 organizations are calling on First Quantum Minerals to close its Cobre Panama mine, drop the international arbitration against Panama, and implement environmental remediation at the mine site.
Historic opposition wins protections
The demands stem from years of concern over the impacts of the mine. In 2023, Panamanians took to the streets to protest the renewal of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine contract. The protests brought a massive number of people out to the streets for 39 days. First Quantum had been operating in legal limbo in the country since its original contract was ruled unconstitutional in 2017 by the Panamanian Supreme Court. Since then, and up to the 2023 protests, the company continued operating without the legally required contract. When news broke that the government was renegotiating another contract with the company despite the legal and environmental issues that had plagued the project, people took to the streets to say that “Panama is worth more without mining.”
Faced with such strong opposition to the project, the government declared a moratorium on new mining concessions, concession applications currently under review, and expired concessions. Soon after, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that First Quantum's latest contract was unconstitutional, having violated 25 articles of the Panamanian Constitution. With its contract nullified for a second time, First Quantum was forced to suspend operations at Cobre Panama.
Hollow company claims
First Quantum has continued to push a narrative that the Panamanian people, not its mining activities, are the problem. In his 2024 message to shareholders, CEO Tristan Pascall stated that, “We continue on our public outreach programs to educate the Panamanian public about the benefits of Cobre Panamá and that mining of natural resources in an environmentally and socially responsible manner is a necessity for the country in our modern lives.” While First Quantum claims the mine is key for Panama’s economy, it has also pitched the mine as critical for the energy transition and has appealed to the Trump Administration claiming it could provide an important source of copper for the US.
Pascall’s comments completely disregard all of the work that Panamanian environmental and social groups have done to gather and analyze documentation from First Quantum on the mine, to disseminate the information to the broader public in a transparent and accessible way, and to document the environmental impacts of the mine in their communities and territories, often at great risk to their personal security.
Time and time again, First Quantum has publicly affirmed its commitment to an open and transparent dialogue about the Cobre Panama mine. First Quantum’s corporate policies and environment, sustainability, and governance reporting often discuss the need to engage with communities and provide them with opportunities for employment and community development through company-led programs. However these commitments fall short with the notable absence of a commitment to uphold communities’ and countries’ right to decide for themselves if mining is in their best interest or represents the type of community development they want.
First Quantum threatens arbitration
As Panamanians, civil society organizations, and their international allies celebrated these historic legal victories that advanced their goal of protecting communities and the environment from the destructive impacts of mining, First Quantum began threatening to sue Panama through international arbitration for 20 billion USD, a figure which represented about 25% of the country’s total GDP in 2023.
Investor state dispute settlement, or ISDS, is a form of international arbitration that is often upheld in bi- or multilateral trade agreements. It tends to have a chilling effect on governments trying to pass or implement environmental regulations or respect community and Indigenous rights. It has been denounced by United Nations experts who warn that ISDS can prevent states from addressing climate change or upholding their international human rights obligations.
First Quantum chose to seek billions from the Panamanian State, claiming the financial repercussions of the project’s suspension are Panama’s responsibility. The company did this in spite of a lack of public support for the mine and decades of opposition to mining in the country, concerns and even sanctions related to the environmental impacts of the mine, legal problems with the contract for a second time, a moratorium that prevents the company from attaining a new contract, and the critiques of the ISDS system.
Renewed opposition
In 2024 Panama elected a new president, who has since stated that he is willing to negotiate the reopening of the mine. He has also discussed the idea of “reopening to close” the mine, without a clear explanation of how this would work or why the mine must be reopened for the closure process. In April of this year, the president introduced the idea of a partnership between the Panamanian government and First Quantum to operate the mine. Members of the National Assembly, unions, community members, and civil society organizations have spoken out in rejection of this idea in large part because it ignores calls for a definitive closure.
With rumors circulating about a potential reopening, there have already been protests as civil society makes it clear that they still believe Panama is worth more without mining. The protests have been marked by “excessive use of force and escalating repression.” Throughout this whole process, neither the president nor First Quantum have explained how this reopening would differ from past operations.
At the end of last year, the Environmental Law Alliance (ELAW) published a report identifying issues with the stability of the tailings or mine waste facility that they classified as a very serious and immediate concern. They also identified a lack of adequate water monitoring which has triggered acid mine drainage at the mine site. Communities that have already been living with the environmental impacts of contaminated water sources and impacts to the region’s biodiversity levels have still not received a clear answer about how these issues will be addressed and amended.
A path to accountable closure
A closure process that aims to mitigate any potential environmental and social harms must be planned out and clearly communicated from the beginning of a project, in a reiterative manner. Frontline communities, particularly Indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé communities, who have to deal with the impacts left behind by a mining project and the waste it generates in perpetuity, must be consulted about what they want to see out of a closure process, what a safe closure looks like for them and must not face repression for protesting the reopening of the Cobre Panamá mine.
The demands outlined in the letter to First Quantum clearly articulate a desire for a safe closure, and for First Quantum to respect the rights and sovereignty of Panamanians.