Panama legislators plan mining regulations overhaul

The trade committee of Panama’s national assembly plans to shake up the country’s mining regulations.

Committee chair Robert Ábrego said the proposal will involve restructuring rules in a ‘true’ mining code, local television network TVN Noticias reported.

The plans will be drawn up with input from countries with more mining experience, Ábrego said at a ceremony in which new committee members were sworn in.

The proposal is planned for the 2021-22 period.

Panama’s mining code dates from 1963 and governs most activities relating to the country’s mineral deposits, including establishing a regime for granting exploration and production concessions to private individuals.

But the country has resorted to legislation creating a special legal regime for large-scale projects, Roy Durling, of law firm Arias, Fabrega & Fabrega, said in a 2021 report on mining in Panama by UK legal industry analysis firm Chambers and Partners.

Mining in Panama is dominated by First Quantum Minerals’ US$6.5bn Cobre Panamá copper-gold project, one of the country’s biggest ever investments.

President Laurentino Cortizo aims to expand the country’s mining sector to boost the economy and create jobs, with trade and commerce ministry MICI planning to strengthen mining institutions.

But the ministry said no new mineral concessions will be granted until a new mining code is established through a consultation process.