Workers at Chile's Spence copper mine voted early on Monday to end a 42-day strike, defusing fears of wider output disruptions after agreeing a wage deal with owner BHP Billiton, their union leader said.
The deal came after a leading Chilean mine union last week threatened to halt output at other mines owned by BHP Billiton in solidarity with the Spence strikers, fanning fears of further supply trouble in world's No. 1 copper producer Chile.
"They approved the wage deal and voted to end the strike," Andres Ramirez, president of Spence's worker union, told Reuters by telephone after the late-night vote to end one of the longest stoppages at a private mine in the South American country. The stoppage entered its 42nd day on Monday.
BHP either has stakes in or owns three mines in Chile, including its Spence deposit, which together produced about 1.5 million tonnes of copper in 2008, or about 10 percent of world output, according to Chilean government data.
BHP has a stake in the world's biggest copper mine, Escondida.
Ramirez said the workers would draw up their new contract on Monday, and once that was done would then lift the strike within 48 hours. He said he expected workers to resume operations "on Wednesday or Thursday".
Global miner BHP said late on Sunday the deal included a 4 per cent pay hike for union workers during the duration of the 41-month contract, as well as bonuses and benefits. BHP had expected workers to resume work as soon as the deal was approved.
BHP has previously said daily output losses at the mine totaled 500 tonnes of copper per day since the strike started in mid-October, which put total losses at about 20,500 tonnes by Sunday night.
Reuters
