The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Nov. 29, edition that Panama's top court ruled against a law approving a contract with First Quantum Minerals. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that the ruling raises the possibility of a long and expensive legal battle between First Quantum and Panama if the dispute moves to international arbitration. First Quantum sent an arbitration notice to the government of Panama over the weekend. Local attorney Victor Baker, who filed an opinion on the case with the Supreme Court, said the ruling applies to the law approved in congress, not the underlying contract. Therefore a new contract can be drafted and the mine can operate in the meantime, he said, in a written reply to questions. However, Martita Cornejo, an attorney who filed the constitutional challenge, says declaring the law unconstitutional effectively voids the contract, and that the mine must close immediately. Seaport Global director Ricardo Penfold says the implications for the nation's fiscal outlook are "terrible." Mr. Penfold says: "The country is running a fiscal deficit of 5 per cent of GDP and this will increase it by about 0.6 per cent. And then you have the lawsuit."