PANAMA CITY – Panama’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that a 20-year concession for a Canadian copper mine at the centre of widespread environmental protests was unconstitutional, and the president later said a process to close the mine would begin.
Opponents of the Cobre Panama mine argued that it would damage a forested coastal area and threaten water supplies. The announcement of the nine-member court’s decision, after four days of deliberations, sparked cheers from a crowd of people waiting outside waving Panamanian flags.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said protester Raisa Banfield, after what she described as an agonising wait. “The president has to suspend [the mine’s] operations today.”
Minera Panama, the local subsidiary of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals, which operates the mine in central Panama, said in a statement that “Cobre Panama acknowledges the court’s decision”.
“We would like to reiterate our unwavering commitment to regulatory compliance in all aspects of our operations in the country,” the company wrote. “We will comment further when additional details of the ruling are made public.”
Panama’s president, Laurentino Cortizo, told the nation on Tuesday that once his government formally received the court’s decision, it would be published in the official gazette and a process would begin “for an orderly and safe closure of the mine”.
The mine employs thousands of people and accounts for 3% of Panama’s gross domestic product.
In March, Panama’s legislature reached an agreement with First Quantum that will allow Minera Panama to continue operating the giant copper mine for at least another 20 years. The open-pit mine was temporarily closed last year when talks between the government and First Quantum broke down over payments the government wanted.
The deal, which received final approval on 20 October, allows the subsidiary to continue operating the mine in a biodiverse jungle on the Atlantic coast west of the capital for the next 20 years, with the possibility of extending it for another 20 years if the site remains productive.
The dispute over the mine led to some of Panama’s largest protests in recent years, including a blockade of the mine’s power plant. Protesters also blocked parts of the Pan-American Highway, including a section near the border with Costa Rica.
Just before the ruling was announced, they opened the road to allow lorries to pass.
Minera Panama said in a statement earlier this month that small boats had blocked its port in Colon province, preventing supplies from reaching the mine. Naval police said a ship carrying coal decided to turn back because of ‘hostility from a group of protesters who threw rocks and blunt homemade objects from their boats’ before being dispersed.
The protesters, a broad coalition of Panamanians, feared the mine’s impact on the environment, especially the water supply.
After the protests began, the government almost passed a law that would have cancelled the contract, but backed down in a debate in the National Assembly on 2 November.
A court ruling that the contract was unconstitutional was the last chance for opponents to get it thrown out.
The Canadian government said it respected Tuesday’s ruling and was following the contract negotiations closely. In an email, Jean-Pierre J. Godbout, a spokesman for the government’s Department of Global Affairs, said the government “always hopes for an agreed solution that is beneficial to all parties.
