Up to $6 million a week to maintain Canadian owned plant hit by virus

Some 800 workers of the original 2,000 still remain at the Minera Panama copper plant in the Donosco district of Colon. The Ministry of Health (Minsa) ordered the project closed, following  the first death due to COVID-19

500 workers are currently isolated in hotels located in the Panamanian Pacific.

The Industrial Union of Mining Construction and Mining Development Workers (STM) has demanded that all workers be evicted from the project, controlled since 2013 by the Canadian company First Quantum.

The company says that the 800 workers who still remain in Donoso will be evacuated when they complete the 14 days of isolation ordered by the Minsa.

“The dining rooms were closed and now the food is delivered to the workers’ rooms, and disinfection work continues,” the company reported.

According to the company, of the 2,000 workers who were in the concession area, 1,200 have already been removed from the mine.

Of these groups, 700 have already returned home and 500 are serving quarantine at beach hotels located between Santa Clara and Farallón, before reaching their homes.

The company, the Minsa, and the workers have already met to review the plan that will be executed in the coming days and to carry out inspections of the disinfected sites.

First Quantum informed shareholders that the closure ordered by the Minsa reached the operations of extraction and production of copper concentrate, but that it expected to keep active the works in the Puerto Rincón terminal and the power generation plant, which has the capacity to generate 300 megawatts of energy.

Carlos González, STM spokesperson, commented that the company must establish with the health authorities the number of workers it will need to keep the power plant active and how many employees will be used for maintenance work.

The mining company indicated that the period of care and maintenance of all its facilities will have a weekly cost of between $4 million and $6 million

“The situation has worsened in recent days with the confirmation of 2 new cases in the Cobre camp,” said the STM.

Labor contracts
To reduce costs during the pandemic, the company indicated that it could avail itself of a decree, which allows the suspension of labor contracts, as well as pause other variable and fixed costs.

Keith Green, country manager of the Cobre Panama project, said that the protocols implemented by the company gave positive results and that the main objective is to protect the workforce and the communities surrounding the  mining development.

Last year, 20 ships sailed from Puerto Rincón, , loaded with extracted minerals.

The Canadian subsidiary of First Quantum produced 147,480 tons of copper concentrate, 60,774 ounces of gold and 1.1 million ounces of silver.