Striking workers at BHP’s Escondida mine accept Gov’t mediation

About 2,500 striking workers at BHP Billiton's Escondida mine in Chile, the world's biggest copper operation, have agreed to let the government mediate in the conflict between them and the company.

There are not guarantees the dialogue will resume, however, as a BHP spokeswoman said Tuesday the while the company had received the government's invitation to attend a three-part meeting, it was still evaluating its participation, local newspaper La Tercera reports (in Spanish).

There are not guarantees the dialogue will resume as a BHP is still evaluating its participation.

Miners have accused BHP, which holds a 57% stake in the mine, of offering no pay increase, seeking to cut bonuses, and removing top-up payments for those who take voluntary redundancy, as well as changing shift hours.

The company, in turn, has blamed miners for causing damages to equipment and installations and last week it decided to stop copper production during the strike, which entered its sixth day Tuesday.

Escondida, located in the copper-rich Antofagasta region, in northern Chile, supports just over 10,000 full-time jobs and it is forecast to produce about 1.1 million tonnes of in the 12 months to June 30, according to BHP figures. That is equivalent to about 5% of the world’s total copper production.

Prices for the red metal have been trading over $6,000 a tonne since news of the strike, but it was down 1.2% on the London Metal Exchange Wednesday to $6,030 a tonne around in mid-afternoon trading, despite news of a production halt at Freeport-McMoRan’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the world's second-largest copper operation.

More to come …

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