Source: AFP
Workers at the world’s largest copper mine in Chile have suspended a strike that began earlier this week and resumed negotiations with Australian mining giant BHP, the union and management announced on Friday.
Workers and BHP “have reached consensus on a proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement,” the company said in a statement, adding that the strike had been suspended since 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday.
Patricio Tapia, union president at the Escondida mine in northern Chile, told AFP the return to talks was “confirmed”.
The strike began on Tuesday with workers’ demands including shorter working days, bigger bonuses and compensation for total years worked.
A key demand has also long been that one percent of shareholder dividends for the Escondida mine, which produces 5.4 percent of the world’s copper, be distributed among workers.
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Chile is the world’s largest copper producer with an annual output of more than five million metric tons, nearly a quarter of global production. Escondida, an open-pit mine located in Antofagasta in the north of the country, produces nearly 1.1 million tons of copper annually.
Chile’s government on Wednesday expressed hope that the strike will end soon, given its impact on the national economy.
When mine workers went on strike for 44 days in 2017 – the longest in Chile’s mining history – BHP lost $740 million, helping to reduce the country’s GDP by 1.3%.
Copper rush
Copper, an electrical conductor used in wiring, is seen as the foundation of emerging clean energy industries.
It is a critical component in the manufacture of solar panels, electric vehicles, wind turbines and rechargeable batteries.
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Copper prices have risen about 400 percent over the past quarter century and broke $10,000 a tonne in April for the first time in two years.
Global demand is expected to grow by up to 2.5 percent annually.
The Escondida mine, which means “hidden” in English, was named after the bulging ore deposits hidden deep beneath the barren surface of Chile’s northern Atacama Desert.
BHP owns just under 60% of the mine, along with minority partners Rio Tinto and Japan’s JECO Corp.
Chile accounts for about a quarter of the world’s copper. Other leading producers are Peru, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source: AFP
