Canadian miner First Quantum continued to ship copper concentrate produced in Panama this week, Panama's commerce minister Julio Molto said.
The firm shipped 38,000 metric tonnes (t) to India, after sending a combined 33,000t to Spain and Bulgaria in August from the stockpile of about 38mn t at its shuttered mine that was operated by its subsidiary Minera Panama.
The shipments are from output that was accumulated before Panama's supreme court ordered the mine closed at the end of 2023, citing an unconstitutional license.
About 6.3mn t of copper ore from the closed mine have been processed, leaving 31.6mn t that will be processed "in another 13 months," Molto said.
Panama's president Jose Raul Mulino created a ministerial committee in July to decide the fate of the mine, "but there is no planned reopening" as the government is "respecting and abiding by the supreme court ruling", Molto said.
The mine and the remaining risks were not declared unconstitutional and the government does not have the technical capacity to manage such a major enterprise, he said.
"The accumulated concentrate is being managed within the framework of a safe preservation plan," he added. "We could not abandon the stockpile."
Panama's commerce ministry in April authorized Minera Panama to export the material as the government delayed until the end of the year a decision on the future of the $10bn investment by First Quantum that produced 331,000t in 2023.
The stockpiled ore is intended to "mitigate environmental and operational risks associated with prolonged on-site storage," First Quantum said. "This activity does not constitute a reopening of the mine and will not involve any new drilling, blasting, or reactivation of mining operations", it added.
The supreme court's order to close the mine followed several weeks of street protests over the terms given to First Quantum for the continued operation of the mine.
The mine was accounting for about 40pc of First Quantum's annual revenue and 1.5pc of global copper output when it was closed, according to the company.
The closure has cost Panama $6.5bn, equivalent to more than 5pc of its economic output, the government said.
