The Cobre Panamá mine, the largest open-cast mine in Central America, “reduced its processing capacity” for ore due to the “illegal blockade” of its port amid nationwide protests against the enclave, it was reported Monday the company. , November 13. concessionaire Minera Panamá, subsidiary of the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals (FQM).

“Illegal actions at the port have affected the delivery of supplies to the power plant,” leading to a drop “in the activity of one of its ore processing lines, while two remain operational,” he said. declared in a press release from Minera Panamá.

The company did not specify in its letter the impact in tonnes of this reduction in the activity of Cobre Panamá, which last year processed 86.14 million tonnes of copper and produced 350.4 tonnes of ore , according to company data.

The “illegal blockage caused by small boats in the mine’s Punta Rincón port” also “obscured the loading of copper concentrate onto boats,” the company said.

The effects on energy production impact “the complete operation” of Cobre Panamá and “the safe management of the environment, including the operation and maintenance of the tailings management facility”, a added the company.

Minera Panamá is “taking a systematic and responsible approach to adjust its operations based on these circumstances,” the company said.

He warned that “if normal activities at the port are not restored”, it will have a “direct impact on more than 7,000 employees and contractors, as well as an additional 40,000 people” indirectly, as well as a ” significant decrease in acquisitions of supplies and services”, with a “loss of revenue of $20 million per week for more than 2,000” local businesses.

Cobre Panama represents a $10 billion investment and nearly 5% of the Central American country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to data from First Quantum and the government of President Laurentino Cortizo.

Three weeks ago, nationwide protests began in Panama against the renewal of the concession, arguing that the contract law that endorses it is “unconstitutional” and economically and environmentally harmful to the state.

Concerning the future of the mine, both the Executive, which defends that the new contract multiplies by 10 the contributions to the treasury compared to the previous one which was declared unconstitutional in 2017, and the Legislative, declared that they would wait for the new decision of the Supreme Court, which has already admitted several appeals for unconstitutionality.

But teachers and construction unions insist that the contract law must be repealed by Parliament, which is in recess until January, and they will not leave the streets until that is done.

The protests that began on October 23 include a teachers’ strike that affects more than 800,000 students and blockages on the country’s main highway, which have generated food and fuel shortages, particularly in the north of the country.