Chile Collahuasi Copper Mine Declares Force Majeure On Strike

Chilean copper mine Collahuasi declared force majeure for its copper contracts following a five-day contract workers strike, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The company expects to resume operations in the next 24 hours after halting all activity at the mine earlier this week to ensure the safety of its workers, the spokeswoman said.

The contract workers began the strike Friday by barricading access to the mining complex located at around 4,500 meters above sea level in the Andes mountains in northern Chile.

As a result, some 4,000 staff and contract workers were stranded inside the mining compound with dwindling water and food supplies.

The stranded workers were evacuated late Tuesday after police removed the protesters.

The contract workers, employed by over a dozen mining services providers, sought improved working conditions and production bonuses of around $2,000 a person.

Collahuasi is owned by diversified mining companies Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN), Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN, AAUKY) and a consortium led by Mitsui & Co. (MITSY, 8031.TO).

It doesn't yet have an estimate of how much output was lost during the strike or whether it can be recovered during the rest of the year.

The mine, one of the largest in the world, produces about 500,000 metric tons of copper a year, or about 10% of Chile's annual output. The South American nation is the world's leading copper producer, accounting for about 35% of global output.

-By Carolina Pica, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8919; carolina.pica@dowjones.com

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