"Exclusive: Panama to bar First Quantum from mining copper during closure process", 03 May 2024

...Panama will bar First Quantum from extracting copper during the closure of the mine it lost the rights to run last year, the country's trade minister Jorge Rivera Staff told Reuters, adding that new ways need to be found to finance the mine's shutdown.

Miners around the world tend to keep mining during closure processes as they use those profits to finance shutdowns, but such a move is off the table in the case of Cobre Panama, Rivera Staff said in an interview.

The decision to strip Canada's First Quantum from its contract, which accounted for about 40% of its revenue last year, came amid nationwide protests that also led authorities to ban to all metal mining activities."

Panama and the Canadian miner are working together to draft a plan - to be made public in the next two weeks - for the mine to be in "care and maintenance mode" while details on the final closure are sorted out, Rivera Staff said...