17 May, 2010
A week-long blockade by several hundred contract workers at Chile’s third largest copper mine ended 12 May, but issues remain unresolved. The blockade, takeover of equipment and operations, and reported kidnappings of direct employees at the Collahuasi mine in northern Region I ended only when Special Forces of the Chilean police arrived to break up the strike.
The contract workers then took the strike 180 kilometres to the west to the town of Iquique. Negotiations to resolve the dispute had been ongoing with the Tarapacá governor, and reports circulate that talks would again start today. Collahuasi, which is 44% owned by Xstrata, 44% by AngloAmerican, with the rest held by Japanese investors connected to Mitsui & Co., declared force majeure on 10 May.
The mining enterprise said it suspended production then because of the on-site takeover, but began operating again on 12 May. Collahuasi employs 2,000 direct employees, while another 4,000 work for some scores of sub-contractors.
Collahuasi is currently in the first phase of a US$750 million expansion and reports linked the contract workers to a Chilean engineering firm involved in that expansion. Their strike and blockade is over demands that include on-site housing similar to that of direct-employed staff, and bonuses for successfully concluding wage negotiations in April.
The strike and blockade began 7 May. Copper prices on the London Metals Market rose slightly due to the shutdown. The Collahusi mine provides 3.3% of the world’s copper supply, with 2009 production at 535,000 tonnes of processed copper. The expansion, due to be complete by 2015, will boost that production figure to 600,000 tonnes.