Panama to bar First Quantum from mining copper during closure process

Panama will bar First Quantum from extracting copper during the closure of the mine it lost the rights to run last year, the country's Trade Minister Jorge Rivera Staff told Reuters, adding that new ways need to be found to finance the mine's shutdown. Miners around the world tend to keep mining during closure processes as they use those profits to finance shutdowns, but such a move is off the table in the case of Cobre Panama, Rivera Staff said in an interview on Thursday.