After First Quantum Minerals Ltd. warned it would halt production at its copper mine in Panama this week unless local protesters lift a blockade preventing the delivery of supplies, news reports Thursday said the company has suspended production.

In a Monday press release, the Canadian mining company said that it had further ramped down operations at its Cobre Panama mine to a single remaining ore processing train.

The company said that without the arrival of new shipments, it expected to run out of supplies for the mine’s on-site power plant sometime this week.

“The ongoing presence of 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,” the release said.

“If the illegal actions continue to prevent the delivery of supplies necessary to operate the power plant, (we) will ramp down the remaining processing train this week and temporarily halt production.”

BNNBloomberg.ca reached out to the company about the status of their mining operations as of Thursday, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Bloomberg News reported Thursday that a union leader at the mine confirmed operations were winding down amid the ongoing blockade, saying workers continued to leave the site early Thursday.

In tandem with the blockade, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Panama in the last three weeks over the country’s government’s decision to extend First Quantum’s mining license there.

Demonstrators have demanded the government annul its contract that allows the company to continue operations at Cobre Panama, with many arguing that the open-pit mine is in a biodiverse jungle area with a delicate ecosystem.

Meanwhile, First Quantum said in the release that the mine accounts for over two per cent of Panama’s total working population, and contributes more than US$50 million per week to the country’s economy.

Domingo Latorraca, a partner at Panama City-based business consulting firm ELEMÉNTE, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Thursday that his organization conducted a poll of about 2,500 companies in early November to assess their views on the mine.

He said the poll found that 70 per cent of respondents were against the closure of the Cobre mine. Other findings included that there was an “overwhelming agreement that if the state of Panama had a very strict, very strong corporate technical agency in charge of supervising activity, 82 per cent of the surveyed people agreed that the extraction process should continue,” Latorraca said.

On First Quantum’s future operations in the country, he said he sees the situation from a “glass half full” perspective. 

“I trust that we will find a way to continue to have a relationship with First Quantum and the country will find peace with strong conditions of regulation,” Latorraca said. 

With files from Daniel Johnson and Bloomberg News.