The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that First Quantum Minerals' top executives got big compensation bumps and favourable performance reviews in a year the miner was forced to shut down its biggest mine and its stock lost more than half its value. The Globe's Niall McGee and David Milstead write that last year First Quantum idled the Cobre Panama mine after Panama's Supreme Court declared its mining contract was unconstitutional. The Panama mine accounted for about half of First Quantum's revenue. Its financial condition deteriorated so much in the aftermath that it was declared a "going concern risk" earlier this year. The miner also saw an uptick in worker fatalities at its mine sites in 2023. The miner's share price plunged by 62 per cent last year. Despite the company's travails, chief executive officer Tristan Pascall, chief financial officer Ryan MacWilliam, chief operating officer Rudi Badenhorst, director of projects Zenon Wozniak and director of mining John Gregory all saw their total compensation increase last year between 20 and 38 per cent. The year-over-year comparisons for three of five of the executives were not apples to apples, as they were promoted in 2022 from lower executive positions.