History
First Quantum was founded in 1983 under the name Xenium Resources. It changed its name to Zeal Capital in 1989, First Quantum Ventures in 1993, and First Quantum Minerals in 1996. [6] Its first significant operation was the Bwana Mkubwa mine in Zambia, acquired in 1996. [7]
In 2000, First Quantum acquired a partial interest in Mopani Copper Mines, a Zambian copper company. In 2001, it opened the Lonshi Copper Mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also in 2001, the company acquired the Kansanshi mine in Zambia.
In 2006 First Quantum acquired London-based Adastra Minerals for £ 140,000,000 in cash and stock. [8] In 2008, First Quantum acquired Toronto-based Scandinavian Minerals Ltd developing the Kevitsa mine in Lapland, northern Finland. In December 2009, First Quantum acquired the Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine in Western Australia for US$340 million from BHP Billiton. [9] In October 2010, First Quantum announced plans to acquire Antares Minerals for $450 million. [10] In November 2010, First Quantum sold its stake in Equinox Minerals. [11] In April 2013, First Quantum successfully completed a hostile takeover of Inmet Mining for CAD$5.1 billion. In June 2013, it was announced that FQM would have to lay off 500 workers at the Sentinel mine in Zambia as it could not sustain their upkeep while waiting for the lifting of a protection order on its operations from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency. [12]
In 2016, it sold the Kevista mine to Boliden AB for US$712 million. [13] In March 2017 First Quantum announced it had launched a $1.6 billion offering of Senior Notes due 2023 and 2025. [14] In December 2017, First Quantum was announced as "the major mining company that will complete the Pebble Limited Partnership" by Ron Thiessen, president and CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., which is currently the sole owner of the Pebble Partnership. [15]
In 2016, First Quantum was ranked as being among the 13th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights in the Arctic. [16]
In December 2019, Chinese state company Jiangxi Copper agreed to buy a subsidiary of First Quantum's largest shareholder, Pangaea Investment Management Ltd, which holds 17.6 percent of First Quantum, causing shares to spike up to five percent. [17]
Panama
In January 2022, negotiations between the Government of Panama and FQM started to define a new contract concerning the Cobre mine, Panama. [18] First Quantum's subsidiary Minera Panamá S. A. made proposals to the Government of Panamá including yearly payments of US$375 million in tax and royalty revenue. These payments were offered under the condition that metal prices and profitability of this mine would not drop significantly. However, the Government of Panamá halted discussions in December 2022 and announced plans to order the suspension of operations at this mine. [19] In February 2023, the Cobre Panama mine suspended ore processing operations after copper concentrate loading operations at Port Rincón were haltet due to a resolution issued by the Panamá Maritime Authority. Ship loading and ore processing resumed on March 8, 2023. [20] The congress of Panamá approved the revised contract concerning the Cobre Panama mine as Bill 1100 in October 2023, which was signed by the President of Panamá as Law 406. [21] [22] Protests led to a moratorium on metallic mining throughout the country, "for an indefinite term", excluding already approved concessions, through Bill 1110, which was approved with 59 votes by the National Assembly (AN), on November 3, 2023. However, the constitutionality of the already approved new concession between the Government of Panana and Minera Panamá S. A. was questioned, leading to more uncertainty. [23] [24] These concessions have led to massive protests in many places of the country that are still ongoing, with the protesters accusing the government of corruption and accepting bribes in order to give overly favorable conditions to the company. [25] [26] [27]
FQM reported, that its subsidiary MPSA made a tax and royalty payment on November 16, 2023 of $567 million for the period from December 2021 to October 2023. This payment is one of the largest ever tax and royalty payments in the history of the global copper mining sector and is the largest fiscal payment ever made in Panama. However, an illegal blockade of small boats at the Punta Rincón port continues to prevent the delivery of supplies that are necessary to operate the power plant of the Cobre Panama mine. This blockade forced the mine to temporarily halt production as of November 23, 2023. [24]
On November 28, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Justice declared that Law 406 of October 20, 2023, which approves the mining concession contract entered into between the State and Sociedad Minera Panamá, S.A. is unconstitutional, a ruling issued unanimously. [28] [29] Panama president said the Minera Panamá copper mine would be closed, hours after the country's Supreme Court declared its contract unconstitutional. [30]
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Kolwezi tailings project was a major project to extract copper and cobalt from the tailings of older mining operations around Kolwezi. It was expected to produce around 70,000 tonnes per year of copper metal and up to 14,000 tonnes per year of cobalt hydroxide. [31] In August 2009, the DRC government revoked First Quantum's license due to a dispute over renegotiating the contract. [32] First Quantum ceased operations in September 2009, putting 700 people out of work. [33] First Quantum had spent $750 million on acquiring and developing the property. First Quantum took out an action against the DRC government in the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration. [34]
The Frontier Mine is an open pit copper mine located near Sakania. First Quantum obtained exploration licenses in January 2001 and July 2002. Production began in 2007, and in 2010 the mine yielded 322,700 tonnes of copper. [35] The Lonshi Mine is an open pit copper mine that produces high-grade oxide ore that was transported to Zambia for processing at the Bwana Mkubwa SX/EW plant 35 kilometres (22 mi) away. The mine was closed after the governor of Katanga Province, Moses Katumbi, banned the export of ore to Zambia, insisting that it should be refined in Katanga. [36] In May 2010, a Congolese court ruled that FQM's Lonshi and Frontier copper mines had been awarded illegally and that they should revert to state-owned Sodimico. [37] According to FQM, the ruling was due to FQM's decision to contest the expropriation of its Kolwezi tailings project, which was later sold to the Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation. [38]
