UPDATE: Chile Collahuasi Loading 10,000 Tons Copper For China
November 26 2010 - 11:34AM
Dow Jones News
With the strike at Chilean copper mine Dona Ines de Collahuasi
entering its 22nd day, the company is loading a shipment of 10,000
dry metric tons of copper bound for China, a company spokeswoman
said Friday.
Despite the strike, production at the mine, one of the largest
in the world, has remained normal because of a contingency plan the
company has in place
"The shipment of around 10,000 dry [metric] tons is being loaded
and it's headed for China," Collahuasi spokeswoman Bernardita
Fernandez told Dow Jones Newswires.
Since the strike started Nov. 5, Collahuasi has sent out two
shipments of copper, one bound for Japan and the other for
Europe.
Collahuasi already hired 100 workers earlier this week and is
looking to hire 200 more to maintain production at the mine, she
added.
With the deadline to accept the company's sweetened offer set to
expire at midnight on Friday, 220 workers of the 1,551 unionized
strikers have broken away from the industrial action and accepted
the offer. The company is offering workers a wage increase,
improved benefits and a contract signing bonus of around $29,000
per worker.
After the midnight deadline that signing bonus will be reduced
to around $25,000 per worker, Fernandez added.
According to Chilean labor laws, if 50% of the striking workers
break away, the strike ends immediately.
A recent court ruling, however, will force those workers that
have accepted the offer to return back to the strike and give the
company back the signing bonus, said Manuel Munoz, the president of
Collahuasi's union.
Munoz added that he is hopeful the court ruling will make the
company and labor leaders resume talks.
The company counters that the court ruling doesn't force workers
to return back to the strike or give up their bonuses and that the
ruling allows for workers to continue individually accepting its
offer.
Diversified mining companies Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) and Anglo
American PLC (AAUKY, AAL.LN) each hold a 44% stake in Collahuasi,
while a consortium led by Mitsui & Co. (MITSY, 8031.TO) holds
the remaining 12%.
Collahuasi, one of the world's largest copper mines, is located
185 kilometers southeast of the port of Iquique, high in the Andes
mountains at 4,400 meters above sea level. It produces about
500,000 metric tons of copper a year, or about 3.5% of global
annual output.
Chile is the world's leading copper producer, accounting for
about 35% of global output.
-By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8929;
anthony.esposito@dowjones.com
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