30 November, 2009
With the end of a 42-day strike on 22 November by miners at BHP Billiton’s Spence copper mine, labour peace appears at hand in the copper mines of Chile, the world’s largest supplier of the red metal. Leading up to the close of November, future labour agreements are in place for most copper producers now, including at one of the three sets of mines owned by the Chilean state-run government, Codelco.
The Spence strike will go down in this round of Chilean copper talks as the most contentious. With an expiration of 30 September, it was the second set of negotiations between BHP Billiton and the union at the open cast mine in the Atacama Dessert of Region II of northern Chile.
On 13 October, the 560 miners at the three-year-old facility downed tools. The strike was resolved eight days ago when workers accepted a 4% wage increase, a bonus of US$14,000 per miner, and a loan guarantee from the company of US$4,060. The agreement runs for 41 months.
Two days earlier, on 20 November, in less acrimonious bargaining, BHP Billiton workers at the smaller Cerro Colorado copper mine ratified a separate 41-month deal with BHP, the world’s biggest mining house. That deal, to take effect 1 February, gives miners a 4.8% pay increase and a US$15,000 bonus.
Also settling early were miners at the globe’s largest copper mine, Escondida, which is 57.5% owned by BHP Billiton, 30% by Rio Tinto, and supplies five percent of the world’s copper. That settlement came even before the official start date of negotiations. In mid-October, mine management and the union representing 3,400 miners agreed to a pay deal of 5%, with a US$28,000 bonus.
Talks continue, but appear headed to a peaceful resolve between Xstrata and the mining union representing workers at its Altonorte mine and smelter in the Tarapacá region near the city of Antofagasta. An agreement there expires 18 December.
At Xstrata’s nearby Lomas Bayas mine, where copper ore is processed at the Altonorte smelter, miners walked off jobs last May for a week to ensure a fair pay package. Xstrata also has a 44% stake in the Collahuasi mine, Chile’s third largest copper mining operation.
Talks are also underway at the copper and gold Candelaria mine, operated by US-based Freeport-McMoRan.
The agreement at state-run Codelco’s Andina mining complex in central Chile came on 21 November, nine days before contract expiration. The wage package was not immediately made known. Three unions are bargaining jointly at Codelco’s Chuguicamata mine, part of Codelco Norte, which has a 31 December expiry.
It is expected that the government, similarly as it has done at the Andean division mines, will extend fair wage offers to other workers of Codelco, which the supplies the world with 11% of its copper.