Cobre Panama mine began producing and shipping copper concentrates in June 2019. Credit: Cobre Panama
First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) says its shuttered copper mine in Panama would have contributed more than $1.7 billion to the Latin American nation’s economy had it remained operational.
In its annual tax transparency disclosure filed this week, the Canadian miner estimates that its Cobre Panama operation, which the government ordered to close in November 2023, would have contributed $500 million in government revenue, over $250 million in salary and wages and nearly $1 billion in local procurement last year under the tax regime in force before the suspension.
Instead, the mine — which First Quantum still remains hopeful of reopening — contributed just a total of $378 million in 2024, a significant decline on the $1.83 billion from the year before, when it was mostly in full operations.
Before…
