Panama Insists on Resource Ownership in Cobre Copper Mine Talks

Panama will require that any agreement to restart the $10 billion Cobre Panama copper mine clearly stipulates that the country is the owner of the land and the resources, the country’s finance chief said in an interview.

Ordered shut in late 2023 after a Supreme Court ruling and an eruption of environmental protests and political turmoil, the new government under President Jose Raul Mulino has been laying the groundwork necessary to begin negotiations with mine owner First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

“For us, it’s important to have an agreement that states very clearly that resources belong to the Republic of ...