• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Two mines still shut in 12th day of Chile copper strike

Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:06pm EDT

SANTIAGO, April 27 (Reuters) - Two mines remained shut on Sunday in the 12th day of a sometimes violent subcontractors strike at Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, a company source said.

Bonds  |  Global Markets

The protests that began on April 16, closed Codelco's Salvador and Andina divisions from the start and its giant underground Teniente division, 50 miles (80 km) south of Santiago, was shut off and on in the past week after full-time staff said they would not work until Codelco resolved violent protests that saw at least two of their members injured.

"Andina and Salvador are still shut," a company source said.

Teniente was reopened on Saturday.

The subcontractors strike is costing Codelco at least $10 million a day in lost output and hurting the image of the state-owned copper miner.

The strikes are the latest in a series of protests by subcontractors over the past two years to demand a bigger share of windfall revenue because prices have jumped nearly seven-fold this decade.

The strike at Codelco, which produces about 1.7 million tonnes of copper per year, has pushed global copper prices to near-record highs of about $4 per pound as markets grow nervous about inventories that are already stretched thin. (Reporting by Pav Jordan, editing by Maureen Bavdek)



More from Reuters

A customer is served at a counter inside a foreign exchange store displaying a poster of various banknotes including the Chinese yuan or renminbi (RMB) in Hong Kong November 20, 2009. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
OUTLOOK 2010:

Be careful what you wish for

Pressure on China to loosen its grip on the yuan will continue but the U.S. should tread carefully. Here are five world market issues to watch.  Full Article 

Clients work out on machines at the Bally Total Fitness facility in Arvada, Colorado June 15, 2009.  REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Get real with resolutions

We make them and we break them: The secret to keeping them is to avoid the impossible dream.  Full Article