A $10 Billion Copper Mine Sits Idle in the Jungle

When the group of mining executives arrived at Panama’s regal Palacio de las Garzas, they were ushered past the ornate, wood-paneled ceremonial rooms and straight to the private office of the president.  The team from First Quantum Minerals Limited was greeted as old friends.  After all, they were building the country’s most important project since the Panama Canal had been opened a century earlier.  The Cobre Panama mine was set to be the centerpiece of Panama’s economy, generating between four and five percent of its gross domestic product.  First Quantum Minerals bet big on a copper mine in Panama.  

This was December 2016, well before the upswell of anti-mining protests that would one day, throw the country into chaos.  It all fell apart in October/November of 2023.  A $10 billion copper mine is now sitting idle in the jungle.  Will the elections of May 5 2024 turn things around?  That is to be seen how the new Government will begin earning money for the country.  Maybe you as a reader have some ideas on how to create new prosperity for an old country.  Bring back mining but in such a way that will appeal to the people of Panama?  This is your newspaper so send me your thoughts and I will review and print the most relevant ones.  PanamaNewsroom@gmail.com