Panama authorizes copper concentrate exports from shuttered First Quantum mine

By Divya Rajagopal

PANAMA CITY, March 13 (Reuters) - Panama has authorized the sale of copper concentrate at First Quantum's FM.TO shuttered Cobre Panama mine, President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday, boosting shares in the Canadian miner by 15% to a two-month high on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Mulino also ordered the restart of a power plant needed to operate the Punta Rincon port, located about 17 miles (27 km) north of the mine, that will be used to help export production from the mine.

The nation's trade and industry ministry said in a statement later on Thursday that it supported Mulino's comments on the mine, but cautioned that no talks with First Quantum could occur until the miner dropped arbitration against the Panamanian government.

"Any sort of approach will depend on the immediate suspension of those processes," the ministry said, adding that "once that is done, we can move forward with the authorization ... on the shipment of the stored copper concentrate."

First Quantum did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the status of its legal action against Panama.

Panama's government, under Mulino's predecessor, ordered First Quantum to shut down the open-pit Cobre Panama mine in late 2023 following protests about alleged environmental concerns. The move led to questions about maintenance of the massive site and 120,000 metric tons of stockpiled copper concentrate.

Before its shutdown, the mine was one of the world's top sources of copper, accounting for 1% of global output.

Mulino told a weekly press conference on Thursday morning that he had authorized removing stranded copper products from the mine, arguing it was being wasted and that Panama would need to be reimbursed once the products are processed outside of the country.

The president said he would review the future of the mine more broadly as soon as next week.

"The issue of the mine will be approached with great responsibility and taking into account at all times the national interest," Mulino said. "We'll start as of next week."

In regard to the power plant, the ministry said the government was still weighing options which would allow the plant to be reactivated to the benefit of the national power grid.

"This decision does not mean a reactivation in mining activity," the ministry said.

In a statement issued after Mulino spoke, First Quantum expressed satisfaction with the president's decision to restart the power plant as well as his comments about exports.

"We welcome the statements made by the president ... regarding the authorizations to export copper concentrate," First Quantum said in the statement.