Panama will publish on Friday a third‑party environmental audit of First Quantum Minerals’ shuttered Cobre Panamá mine, a 350,000‑tonne‑per‑year copper operation that previously generated about 5% of national GDP, to guide President José Raúl Mulino’s decision on its future after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling voided the concession. Environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro and commerce minister Julio Moltó say the extensive report, following six preliminary technical reviews, will be released “with full transparency” and is the only basis for assessing environmental compliance. The move comes as new protests in Panama City, led by Sal de las Redes and Movimiento Independiente Voluntad, oppose any restart amid claims of irreversible environmental damage and debate over an estimated $3.5 billion economic loss since shutdown.

ArcelorMittal Exploitation Minière Canada has been fined C$100 million, the largest penalty ever under Canada’s Fisheries Act, after pleading guilty to 100 counts for discharging low‑pH effluents and waters with elevated zinc, nickel and suspended solids from its Mont‑Wright and Fire Lake iron ore operations between 2014 and 2022. Nearly C$250,000 in investigation costs must also be repaid, and a detailed effluent and mine drainage management plan for both complexes is due to federal enforcement officers by mid‑February 2027. The company says it has since invested over C$400 million in permanent water control and treatment infrastructure.

Arca Technologies has secured up to C$2 million from NRC IRAP’s Clean Tech initiative towards a C$7.4 million project to move its mineral activation and engineered carbonation processes from lab to field scale, targeting alkaline wastes such as mine tailings and steel slag. The company will design containerised, field‑deployable mineralisation units and prepare a first‑of‑kind industrial pilot, billed as the first field‑scale system to accelerate carbon mineralisation in mine waste. Commercial traction includes a 10‑year offtake with Microsoft for nearly 300,000 tonnes of CO₂ removal and an early pre‑purchase from Frontier.