The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Dec. 5, edition that last Tuesday, the Panamanian Supreme Court ruled that a contract enabling First Quantum Minerals to extend its operations in the Central American country was unconstitutional, and authorized a process to shut down the $10-billion (U.S.) mine. The Globe's guest columnist Greg Mills writes that the government of Panama will now face lawsuits north of $60-billion (U.S.) to account for lost income by the company and its suppliers and investors. On Monday, Reuters reported that Panama was forecasting a decline in 2024 economic growth of up to four percentage points. Mr. Mills says the crisis has become a master class in populist politics, hapless and ailing leadership, the peddling of falsehoods and cynical opportunism, a coming election, an opposition seeking a populist message, and smelling the ruling party's blood. The arguments against the deal are being made on several spurious grounds. These included the idea that the country only got 2 per cent of the proceeds, which was clearly not the case. Absent reasonable returns and the related ability to derisk investments, companies will very likely kiss Panama goodbye and go to more stable jurisdictions.