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Panama bans new mining
After hundreds of people demonstrated for days against an agreement with a Canadian copper company, the Panamanian government on Friday froze new contracts related to metal mining. The National Assembly enacted legislation prohibiting new mining concessions for the discovery or extraction of metals during the height of the greatest social unrest to hit Panama since protests against dictator Manuel Noriega in the 1980s. Shortly after, 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 another 20 years, thanks to a law passed by Congress on October 20. This sparked protests that resumed on Friday. Opponents of the contract quickly took to the streets of the small Central American nation, setting up blockades in the capital and other cities. The Pan-American Highway, which connects Panama with the rest of Central America, was stopped by some. Later, protesters, concerned about the possible effects of the First Quantum mine on the environment, stepped up their calls to include a ban on all new mining contracts.
The already signed First Quantum agreement, whose legitimacy is currently being examined by the Supreme Court of Panama, is not affected by the ban that was authorized on Friday for an ambiguous period of time. However, according to Panama’s CIAM Environmental Defense Center, an NGO, it will stop the renewal of another 15 current contracts and 103 mining concessions that were under review. An activist named Raisa Banfield called Friday’s announcement “a great achievement for a country that had given itself over 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.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn