The mining record of Panama
164 concessions in the Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias' newest monthly lists, 15 of them metallic, 110 in force and 14 cancelled, held by 141 named companies; 73 monthly lists read for the status history; and 12 mining deaths reported by the Panamanian press.
The Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias publishes two concession lists every month, current to the last day of the month before: the metallic list (15 records, 12 of them cancelled, seven by resolutions of 23 November 2023, four days before the Supreme Court declared Cobre Panamá's Contrato Ley 406 unconstitutional) and the non-metallic list (about 148 sand, gravel and stone pits). Each row carries the company, kind, material, locations, hectares and a status narrative that spells out the contract, its Gaceta Oficial citation, expiry and any cancelling resolution, which makes the register the country's only enforcement record even though no enforcement dataset exists. This page reads every month and keeps each concession's status month by month. No list carries a RUC, Panama's tax id, so companies are matched by name only. No agency publishes an inspection or an accident record; with the one large mine in care and maintenance and no artisanal sector to speak of, the press-derived death count is near zero.
Looking for US mine enforcement instead? See MSHA violations by operator. · Chile's record · Colombia's record · Honduras's record
Contrato Ley N° 406 del 20 de octubre de 2023 Contrato 20 de · fallo de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de 27 de Contrato Declarado Inconstitucional mediante noviembre de 2023.
Minera Panamá's copper mine ran under Contrato Ley 406 of 20 October 2023 until the Corte Suprema de Justicia declared the contract unconstitutional on 27 November 2023; Ley 407 of 3 November 2023 put a moratorium on new metallic concessions. The mine has been in preservation and safe management since 2024; concentrate stockpile exports restarted in 2026 and reopening is under public debate. The register's line for it is the mine's legal standing as MICI prints it each month; the status history below it is what this page has seen change.
Status text last changed in the June 2025 list.
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MICI's LISTADO DE CONTRATOS METÁLICOS: gold, copper and manganese concessions, exploration and extraction, including the cancelled ones and the two contract-law concessions.ⓘ
Rows whose status carries an expiry date ahead or reads Vigente; an extension en trámite counts as in process.ⓘ
Rows whose status names a cancelling resolution; most metallic cancellations were resolved in November 2023, around the Cobre Panamá ruling.The September 2026 metallic and non-metallic lists, 141 named companies (last read Oct 8, 2026), synced weekly from MICI's uploads; a new month appears about a week after it ends.
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Monthly PDFs read from MICI's uploads, both lists, back to the oldest the media API still serves.ⓘ
Concessions whose ESTATUS text changed between two monthly lists this page has read.Monthly lists read from June 2022 to September 2026; each concession's status text is kept per month, so a cancellation, an extension or a court ruling shows as the month it first appeared.
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Counted from press headlines only; Panama publishes no official per-fatality mining record, so the true number is undoubtedly higher.Spanish-language headlines naming Panamanian mines and places from 2015 to Sep 23, 2026, read daily through Google News (last pull Oct 10, 2026) and classified by a language model against the headline's own words.
MICI publishes no inspection or sanction dataset; every cancellation, expiry and resolution is written into the register's status column with its Gaceta Oficial number, which is most of a penalty history minus the amounts. The Caja de Seguro Social, which holds occupational-accident counts, answers 403 from abroad; MITRADEL publishes no mine-safety series. One request under Ley 6 de 2002 was filed with MICI on September 17, 2026 for its mine-inspection reports and the Cobre Panamá preservation-plan compliance audits, 2020 to date; the answer is awaited.
Filed September 17, 2026 by email to MICI, with ANTAI copied. Ticket number and answer date appear here when assigned.
“Trabajador cae a embudo en cantera de Portachuelo, queda atrapado y muere”
“Trabajador muere tras caerle una plancha de metal en empresa de La Chorrera”
“Obrero fue arrollado por pala cargadora.”
“Canal de Panamá lamenta e investiga el fallecimiento de un trabajador a bordo de una draga”
tvn-2.com → · Canal de Panamá
“Muere marinero tras accidente en draga”
“Varios heridos deja accidente de un bus que transporta pasajeros de Minera Panamá”
tvn-2.com → · Minera Panamá
“Minera Panamá no notificó accidente de forma inmediata: MiAmbiente”
prensa.com → · Minera Panamá
“Un trabajador fallece tras incendiarse campamento en minera Panamá”
Mi Diario → · Minera Panamá
“Obrero muere calcinado en dormitorio del campamento de Minera Panamá”
CRÍTICA → · Minera Panamá
“Muere trabajador de Cobre Panamá en incendio”
“Muere un trabajador de Minera Panamá tras incendio en un módulo de habitaciones”
El Siglo Panamá → · Minera Panamá
“Una persona muere en incendio en módulo de campamento en Minera Panamá”
tvn-2.com → · Minera Panamá
Every event is one press item read by a language model: the sentence shown is the headline's own words, and the company link exists only where the headline names a listed company exactly.
| List | Disposition | Concessions | Companies | Hectares | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metallic | cancelled | 12 | 8 | 54,268 | |
| Metallic | in force | 1 | 1 | 142 | |
| Metallic | declared unconstitutional | 1 | 1 | 12,955 | |
| Metallic | status not read | 1 | 1 | 2,549 | |
| Non-metallic | in force | 109 | 102 | 26,840 | |
| Non-metallic | in process | 29 | 28 | 7,655 | |
| Non-metallic | status not read | 9 | 3 | 3,367 | |
| Non-metallic | cancelled | 2 | 2 | 1,361 |
The disposition is read out of each row's ESTATUS narrative: in force (a Vence date or Vigente), in process (an extension or application en trámite), cancelled (a cancelling resolution), or declared unconstitutional (Cobre Panamá). The metallic list's row count is not a count of active concessions.
| Material | Concessions | Companies | |
|---|---|---|---|
| piedra de cantera | 54 | 49 | |
| arena submarina | 24 | 22 | |
| grava de río | 15 | 13 | |
| oro | 13 | 8 | |
| s.a. piedra de cantera | 11 | 11 | |
| piedra caliza | 9 | 8 | |
| arena continental | 8 | 8 | |
| tosca | 7 | 7 | |
| arcilla | 5 | 5 | |
| arena | 5 | 5 | |
| cemento bayano | 4 | 3 | |
| s.a. piedra caliza | 4 | 3 | |
| cascajo | 3 | 3 | |
| grava continental | 3 | 3 |
Each material a list names on a concession, counted once per concession; 'otros' is dropped. The non-metallic list is sand, gravel and stone; the metallic list is gold, copper and manganese.
| Province | Concessions | Companies | Deaths (floor) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panamá Oeste | 31 | 30 | 0 | |
| Panamá | 30 | 28 | 0 | |
| Chiriquí | 20 | 20 | 0 | |
| Colón | 17 | 14 | 0 | |
| Veraguas | 15 | 14 | 0 | |
| Coclé | 13 | 13 | 0 | |
| Los Santos | 8 | 6 | 0 | |
| Bocas del Toro | 5 | 5 | 0 | |
| Herrera | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| Darién | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Bocas Changuinola del Toro | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Boquerón y | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Capira y | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Capira y Coclé. | 1 | 1 | 0 |
The province is the last token of the register's locations cell (corregimiento, district, province), so a multi-province concession counts under the last one named; press deaths by the province in the headline.
| Company | In force | Cancelled | metallic | Press accidents | Materials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MINERA CERRO QUEMA, S.A | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | oro y plata |
| VERA GOLD CORPORATION, S.A | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | oro y otros |
| PRODUCTOS MARIBEL, S.A | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arcilla; arena submarina; piedra de cantera |
| BAGATRAC, S.A | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | grava de río; piedra de cantera |
| MINEQUIP CORP | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra de cantera |
| AURIFERA EL SOL, S.A | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | manganeso y otros |
| AURUM EXPLORATION, INC | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | oro y otros |
| ZIORO, S.A | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | oro y otros |
| CEMENTO BAYANO, S.A | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena continental; arena, piedra caliza; piedra caliza; piedra de cantera |
| ARGOS, S.A | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra caliza y arcilla; piedra de cantera |
| MINISTERIO DE OBRAS PUBLICAS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena, cascajo y ripio; grava de río; piedra de cantera |
| 12-oct.-95 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CANTERA EL CONTO, S.A.; CANTERA EL CONTO, S.A. piedra de cantera |
| 16-jul.-09 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CEMENTO BAYANO, S.A. piedra caliza |
| 7-dic.-93 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CONSTRUCTORA Y EQUIPO PESADO RIVERA, S.A. arena submarina |
| 8-sep.-92 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CANTERA EL PUENTE, S.A.; CANTERA EL PUENTE, S.A. piedra , arena y cascajo |
| ARENAS CARIBEÑAS, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena submarina |
| ARENAS DE CAPIRA, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena submarina |
| ARENAS DEL MAR, S. A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena submarina; arena submarina Chepo, Panamá Oeste y |
| ARENAS Y CONSTRUCCIONES, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena submarina; arena submarina Juanito, Capira, Panamá |
| ARENERA BALBOA, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena submarina |
| CANTERA LOS DUENDES, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra de cantera |
| CONSTRUCTORA MECO, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | grava de río; tosca y piedra de |
| GETHSA INTERNACIONAL, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena continental |
| GRUPO ALIADO DE INVERSIONES, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena continental |
| GUARY INVESTMENT CORP., S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra de cantera |
| MINERAL BASICO, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra caliza |
| PANAMA OUTDOORS, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | arena submarina |
| PAUL A. GAMBOTTI, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra de cantera |
| PREMEZCLADOS PANAMA, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra caliza |
| READY MIXED PANAMA, S.A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | piedra de cantera |
Ranked by press events, metallic concessions, concessions in force and all concessions. Every listed company has a page; this table shows the top of the ranking.
| Month | List | Records | Current to | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | Metallic | 0 | Sep 30, 2026 | → |
| September 2026 | Non-metallic | 149 | Sep 30, 2026 | → |
| August 2026 | Metallic | 15 | Aug 31, 2026 | → |
| August 2026 | Non-metallic | 148 | Aug 31, 2026 | → |
| July 2026 | Metallic | 15 | Jul 31, 2026 | → |
| July 2026 | Non-metallic | 148 | Jul 31, 2026 | → |
| June 2026 | Metallic | 15 | Jun 30, 2026 | → |
| June 2026 | Non-metallic | 148 | Jun 30, 2026 | → |
| May 2026 | Metallic | 15 | → | |
| May 2026 | Non-metallic | 148 | May 31, 2026 | → |
| April 2026 | Metallic | 15 | Apr 30, 2026 | → |
| April 2026 | Non-metallic | 149 | Apr 30, 2026 | → |
The newest lists first; each row links MICI's PDF. A month absent here is a month MICI's site did not list or that could not be read.
Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias, Dirección Nacional de Recursos Minerales, Listados mensuales de contratos metálicos y no metálicos (PDF): 239 records, fetched Sep 17, 2026. →
The lists are found on MICI's site and read from the PDFs column by column; hectares are normalised.