Panama's Ministry of Environment: Copper Mine Audit Proceeds Successfully

The Ministry of Environment (MiAmbiente) reported that the comprehensive audit of the Copper Mine Panama project is advancing satisfactorily, meeting all goals and deadlines as planned. In this regard, the Ministry of Environment reiterates that the Comprehensive Audit of the Copper Mine Panama project is conducted under international standards with technical rigor, independence, transparency, and traceability. Similarly, this first report reiterates that all 370 environmental commitments derived from the Category III Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be audited. In this initial stage, no findings or conclusions are issued, as the audit is in the information gathering, validation, and analysis phase, prior to the start of field verifications and specialized technical evaluations. MiAmbiente strictly complies with the publication of the country's environmental information, including that related to the Copper Mine Panama, permanently adhering to the Escazú Agreement on transparency in environmental and ecological management. Annex 1 organizes all these environmental commitments by number, description, institutional competence, and location in the Terms of Reference for their verification, ensuring traceability, technical control, and transparency of the audit process. This report, available on the MiAmbiente website, documents the activities carried out during the first work period, focused on inter-institutional coordination, document review, detailed technical structuring of the audit, and definition of the work methodology, in accordance with the established Terms of Reference. In this sense, the auditing company SGS Panamá Control Services Inc. delivered the first progress report, corresponding to the initial phase of the audit process conducted under its supervision. Partial and final results will also be timely communicated to the public as the following phases of the process advance.