On 30 September 2026, three ministers delivered a report on Cobre Panamá to President José Raúl Mulino at the presidential palace in Panama City. The commission recommends talks with Canadian owner First Quantum Minerals about a limited restart, with the mine’s own revenue paying for an orderly closure. Any deal would also have to settle arbitration claims and rule out extending the mine’s operation. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI) published all 35 pages online.
The commission sets six criteria for any agreement and makes 17 recommendations. It says the mine could operate again only to finance its shutdown. The footprint can’t expand. It would have to shrink in stages, with dated milestones and a fixed final-closure date.
Who Pays for Closure
The report requires irreversible damage to be identified, costed and paid for. Any agreement can’t take the form of a concession or a contract-law, which the report describes as the kind of contract the Supreme Court struck down. Law 407 of 2023 bars new mining concessions in Panama.
A portion of state income from the site would go automatically to an environmental fund run by the Environment Ministry. A published legal opinion would also have to show that the agreement avoids the flaws identified by the court.
Closure still carries a substantial price tag. MICI estimated in March 2024 that it would cost US$800 million to US$1 billion over seven to nine years. Subsequent upkeep, estimated at US$15 million to US$20 million a month, would add US$1.8 billion to US$2.4 billion.
Without an agreement, the commission estimates total costs of US$2.6 billion to US$3.4 billion over 17 to 19 years, as much as 9.7% of Panama’s 2026 state budget. “The site pays for its own closure, or there is no deal,” said Economy and Finance Minister Felipe Chapman. Panama’s currency, the balboa, trades at par with the U.S. dollar.
Claims, Jobs and State Revenue
First Quantum and the project’s financial partners launched international arbitration cases after the November 2023 ruling. Their claims total at least US$27 billion at their minimum amounts, about 30% of Panama’s GDP, as calculated by En Segundos. Panama hasn’t accepted the claims as debt and says it will defend itself.
The report’s 17th recommendation makes ending all the arbitration cases a mandatory condition of any agreement. In an announcement dated 31 March 2025, First Quantum said it had withdrawn one case at the International Chamber of Commerce and suspended another under the Canada-Panama free trade agreement. No tribunal had ruled on the merits of the claims.
Each day without a decision costs Panama an average of US$6.85 million in export earnings and about US$1.28 million in tax revenue, the commission says. The shutdown in 2023 cost more than 6,000 direct jobs and about 30,000 indirect jobs, according to the report.
The current phase processes ore extracted before the shutdown and has created 2,300 direct jobs. The site, not taxpayers, pays for that work. Exports of 121,000 tonnes of stored copper concentrate earned the state US$30 million in royalties.
No Restart Date Set
Closing a mine of this size is engineering work that takes decades, the report says. Its tailings dam, which stores mining waste, has 164 instruments under constant monitoring.
First Quantum said it would engage “constructively and in good faith” toward a legal framework aligned with Panama’s constitution and awaited government guidance on next steps. Mulino accepted the six criteria as non-negotiable. He’ll study the remaining material with his cabinet and lawyers before announcing a decision.
The report sets no date for future activity at the site and approves no contract or payment. Mulino hasn’t given a date for his decision. It also calls for an immediate programme of water, sanitation, health and electricity for nearby communities in Donoso, the district in Colón province where the mine is located. Weeks of street protests came before the 2023 court ruling that ended the previous contract.