Panama has authorised the export of 120,000t of copper concentrate from a shuttered mine owned by Canada's First Quantum Minerals, president Jose Raul Mulino said.
The export will clear the way for a discussion about the future of the $10bn mine at Donoso district in Colon province, as the shutdown was affecting the country's economy, Mulino said.
The mine — one of the largest in the Americas — was closed in 2023 after Panama's supreme court ruled that First Quantum's contract was unconstitutional.
The mine produced 331,000t in the year before the shutdown, and accounted for 5pc of the Central American country's economy, according to Panama government figures.
"That 5pc we threw out the window in a single day — everyone thinks it is a statistic," Mulino said. "But we are feeling it."
First Quantum said in January 2024 that if the government allowed the export of the concentrate stored at the mine, it intended to use the proceeds to finance preservation and safety operations at the site.
"We reaffirm our willingness to discussing and finding the best solution with the aim of contributing to the well-being of the country and all Panamanians," the company said Thursday.
"We are feeling it," Mulino said of the impact of the closure of the mine on the economy of the country, with its 4.4mn inhabitants.
"It has added to unemployment and has caused reduced income for the country, and suppliers to the mine are yet to be paid."
But he suggested that discussions over the future of the mine would not be easy.
"The matter of the mine requires great responsibility and must be guided by our national interests and what is beneficial to Panama," the president said.
The government has allowed the restart of the mine's 300MW plant "to deliver the power needed for the removal of the stored concentrate," a representative of Panama's industry ministry told Argus Friday.
But a reopening of the mine could be attacked by influential lobbies in Panama.
The previous administration of Laurentino Cortizo was pressured to close the mine as the supreme court order was preceded by weeks of street protests by opposition parties, trade unions, environmental lobbies and non-governmental organizations.
They objected to the terms given to First Quantum, and claimed that the project was damaging the environment.
