© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: View of the Cobre Panama mine, of Canadian First Quantum Minerals, in Donoso, Panama, December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Aris Martínez/File Picture
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -Canadian miner First Quantum (NASDAQ:)’s contract to function a profitable mine in Panama is unconstitutional, Panama’s Supreme Courtroom declared on Tuesday following weeks of protests towards the deal.
Challenges towards the corporate’s new contract, which was accredited on Oct. 20, piled up in court docket amid public anger over the deal, which opponents regard as too beneficiant.
“We have decided to unanimously declare unconstitutional the entire law 406 of October 20, 2023,” mentioned Supreme Courtroom President Maria Eugenia Lopez.
The contested contract gave First Quantum a 20-year mining proper with an possibility to increase for one more 20 years, in return for $375 million in annual income to Panama.
The corporate didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Demonstrators have argued the contract phrases are too beneficiant to First Quantum and allege corrupt practices in its approval. The corporate denies this.
In response to the protests, Panama’s authorities enacted a invoice in November banning all new mining concessions and extensions.
