Tausi Insider

Heavy equipment prepares a road at Inmet’s massive Cobre Panama project. Panama has ordered First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s FM-T Cobre Panama mine to cease commercial operations, after the Central American country clashed with the big Canadian copper miner over a profit-sharing agreement. Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo made the announcement late Thursday in a dramatic televised address to the nation. Cobre Panama is First Quantum’s biggest mine, and accounts for more than half of its net asset value. Vancouver-based First Quantum is Canada’s biggest copper producer. First Quantum and Panama had been in talks for more than a year to try to hammer out a new profit-sharing agreement to replace the existing pact that sees the company pay a royalty based on a percentage of its revenue. First Quantum faced a deadline of midnight Wednesday to strike a new pact, but on Thursday morning the two sides announced they were at an impasse. Panama had wanted First Quantum to pay a minimum of U...

The Cobre Panama copper mine in Donoso, Panama. Abraham Teran/The Associated Press Panama says it has no intention of seizing the Cobre Panama mine from First Quantum Minerals Ltd., FM-T despite excoriating the Canadian copper company for allegedly misrepresenting the tenor of their talks. Vancouver-based First Quantum and Panama have toiled for more than a year to try to come up with a new tax and royalties contract for the mine. Talks broke down last month, at which point Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo ordered the mine to cease operations. Other Canadian miners have seen their assets expropriated after clashing with foreign governments, including Centerra Gold Inc. in 2021. Its flagship Kumtor mine was nationalized by the Kyrgyz Republic. But there appears to be almost no chance of that happening in this case. “At no point has the government considered, or will it consider, expropriating any mine,” Federico Alfaro, Panama’s Minister of Commerce and Industries, said in an i...