The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that First Quantum may lose its Cobre Panama mine after Panama's top court on Tuesday said that a law linked to the company's 20-year mining contract with the country was illegal. The Post's Kaimul Karim writes that First Quantum is yet to confirm a shutdown as a result of the court's decision, but it has been forced to stop production at the mine due to a blockade by protesters at its port. If the mine remains shut in 2024, global copper prices may be higher than originally forecast, Patricia Mohr, an economist and former vice-president at Bank of Nova Scotia, said. "There would have been a large global supply shortfall in any case by 2025-2026," she said. Mr. Mohr said maintaining a social licence to operate is now "very important to mining companies in ensuring smooth operations." A licence to operate ranks third among the risks miners said they are concerned about, according to an EY survey in October. Miners require the licence to operate on land, which they do not own, and navigate a range of conditions around how minerals are extracted. More than half of the roughly 5,000 critical minerals projects currently under development are on or near indigenous lands.