Mining in the margins: between the strategy of state integration and the process of territorial fragmentation in the Atlantic region of Panama

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the multifaceted dynamics of the Cobre Panama mining project in the local space by questioning the modalities of construction of a new extraction territory organized by and for the exploitation of mining resources. To do this, we place the development of mining activities in the Panamanian Atlantic region within a broader process of desire for territorial and political integration of a space until then in a marginal situation vis-à-vis the national territory. This demonstrates how mining can be mobilized in a political strategy of territorial reorganization and full exercise of national sovereignty over an area.

The example of the development of the Cobre Panama mine in the Panamanian Atlantic region demonstrates the complexity of the territorial processes induced by the insertion of extractive activities. On the one hand, the design of Cobre Panama's mining infrastructure responds to a logic of isolation and immunization with respect to its host territory, seeking through different mechanisms to protect itself from its threats and dangers.

Beyond this observation, we show that modifications to the different governance frameworks, i.e. the evolution of the political-administrative framework and the frameworks for managing community relations, are one of the modalities of territorial integration. These integration dynamics are notably the result of a privatization of local governance through the establishment by the company of specific mechanisms for supervising community relations.