Chile miners say losing jobs as metals prices fall

SANTIAGO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - A global slump in metals prices is hitting Chile's small and medium sized miners, forcing cutbacks in working hours in some cases and jobs in others.

Mine workers in the city of Antofagasta, in the heartland of Chile's massive copper mining industry, demonstrated this week to demand government aid and said up to 2,500 were out of work in the region as copper prices have slumped.

At privately held Cerro Dominador, which processes concentrates and cathodes, workers say the company is considering slashing the work force in half.

"We are living in uncertainty. We've heard that at the end of the month there will be a termination. We're hearing about 50 percent of the workers," said a union leader at the mine, which has some 250 union workers.

Company representatives could not be reached to comment.

The union said owners told them cutbacks were a result of the global financial crisis and because they were receiving less mineral to process after copper prices fell.

At the small, privately held Sierra Miranda copper mine, also in northern Chile, union workers said they were also facing cutbacks.

Chile's state miner Enami, which buys and processes mineral from small and medium sized producers, has been in meetings with the industry since last week to discuss extending credit to help companies weather the price slump.

Alfredo Ovalle, the president of the National Mining Society, Sonami, said on Tuesday the group met with Enami and the finance minister to discuss the potential for a price stabilization fund for prices below $2 a lb.

Prices, which were at about $4 a lb in July, were about $1.65 a lb on Tuesday.

"This would not be a subsidy, but a loan at market (interest) rates," Ovalle said. "It would be for three or four months, and then we would have to review whether it is necessary to renew," he said. (Reporting by Pav Jordan and Monica Vargas; Editing by Walter Bagley)