Panama mine shut down process will be 'ordered and safe'

Panama's president said on Tuesday that Canadian miner First Quantum's lucrative copper mine Cobre Panama would be shut down, hours after the country's Supreme Court declared its contract unconstitutional.

The announcement by the nine-justice court, after four days of deliberations, set off cheers among demonstrators waiting outside and waving Panamanian flags.The contract in dispute was agreed last month by Panama's government and First Quantum a 20-year mining right with an option to extend for another 20 years, in return for $375 million in annual revenue to Panama.