09:25 AM EST, 02/25/2025 (MT Newswires) -- First Quantum Minerals ( FQVLF ) and its workers and suppliers in Panama are stepping up efforts to gain support for the reopening of a $10 billion copper mine more than a year after it was shut, Bloomberg is reporting Tuesday.

The company has switched from a low-profile approach to engaging with Panamanians, in the wake of protests that triggered the closure, to a far more visible one of mass mine visits and public events, Maru Galvez, public relations manager for the Cobre Panama mine, told reporters at a dinner in the capital Monday. The efforts are paying off, with 96% of respondents in a recent community survey saying the government should renegotiate the mine contract. "The needle has moved," she said.

To be sure, while First Quantum has met with local officials and brought ministers to the mine, company executives are yet to sit down with President Jose Raul Mulino, whose main focus remains social security reform, Bloomberg said, noting that before it was closed in December 2023, the mine generated 5% of the country's gross domestic product 1.5% of the world's copper.

"In order to get an operational license we need to have a social license," Galvez said Monday.

The Vancouver-based firm's shares are trading at around half the levels seen during its 2023 peak as investors await news on a mine that accounted for about 40% of sales. First Quantum has cut thousands of jobs since the closure and warned of more layoffs if it doesn't reopen.

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