How a $10bn mine became a cautionary tale for the energy transition

When the group of mining executives arrived at Panama’s regal Palacio de las Garzas, they were ushered past the ornate, wood-paneled ceremonial rooms and straight to the private office of the President. This was December 2016, before the upswell of anti-mining protests that would throw the country into chaos, and the team from First Quantum Minerals were greeted as old friends. After all, they were building the country’s most important project since the Panama Canal had been opened a century earlier.