Panama’s Ministerial Commission has recommended formal negotiations with First Quantum Minerals on a new legal framework for the shuttered Cobre Panamá mine, which could allow operations to resume while financing its eventual progressive closure at no cost to the state. The report calls for pending international arbitration claims to be finally settled before any agreement takes effect, prohibits an expansion of the mine’s footprint and requires greater transparency, public benefit and compliance with the Supreme Court of Justice ruling that invalidated the previous contract. Cobre Panamá, one of the world’s largest open-pit copper deposits, accounted for 1% of global copper production before Panama shut it in 2023 following protests over taxes and environmental effects. President Jose Raul Mulino said he would study the report before deciding the mine’s future. First Quantum said it would engage constructively and in good faith on a framework aligned with Panama’s Constitution and laws. Its shares initially fell as much as 31% in Toronto trading before closing down 15%, as analysts said investors appeared to interpret repeated references to an orderly closure too negatively.