Panama bans new mining concessions amid huge protests

Here we will give the details about the recent Panama announcement as the public is searching about it over the internet. The public is going through the internet to learn more about the recent Panama announcement and not only that they also like to know the recent update on new metal mining contracts as the news about it is going viral over the internet. So, for our readers, we have brought information about the recent Panama announcement in this article. Not only that we are also going to give the details about the recent update on new metal mining contracts as the public is searching about it over the internet. So, keep reading through the article to know more.

Panama bans new mining

After hundreds of people demonstrated against an agreement with a Canadian copper business for days on end, the Panamanian government on Friday placed a freeze on new contracts related to metal mining. The National Assembly enacted legislation outlawing new mining concessions for the discovery or extraction of metals during the height of the most social unrest to hit Panama since demonstrations against dictator Manuel Noriega in the 1980s. Shortly afterward, President Laurentino Cortizo signed the legislation into law. The action comes after two weeks of protests that shut down traffic and left stores without supplies.

The largest open pit copper mine in Central America will be operated by Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals for 20 years, with an option to extend for a further 20 years, thanks to a law adopted by Congress on October 20. This sparked the protests that resumed on Friday. Opponents of the contract quickly poured into the streets of the tiny Central American nation, establishing blockades in the capital and other cities. The Pan-American Highway, which links Panama with the rest of Central America, was stopped by some. Later, demonstrators who were worried about the First Quantum mine’s possible effects on the environment intensified their calls to include a ban on all new mining contracts.

The already-signed First Quantum agreement, whose legitimacy is currently being examined by Panama’s Supreme Court, is unaffected by the prohibition that was authorized on Friday for an ambiguous length of time. However, according to Panama’s CIAM Environmental Advocacy Centre, an NGO, it will halt the renewal of 15 other current contracts and 103 mining concessions that were being reviewed. A campaigner named Raisa Banfield called Friday’s announcement “a great achievement for a country that had been delivered to mining.” The state would receive about $375 million from the mine each year, according to the administration, which has defended the First Quantum contract.