MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mine strike in Chile ends

A strike that roiled world copper markets has come to an end, as workers at La Escondida mine in Chile voted to end their 25-day strike.

Union official Francisco Aedo said 1,607 workers voted Thursday to accept a new 40-month contract offered by the company, Minera La Escondida. Another 121 voted to continue to strike and one worker voided his vote.

The strike brought about half the mine's production to a halt - stoking fears of a shortage in an already tight market. The mine represents 8 percent of the world's copper production.

This year, the price for a pound of copper rose as high as $4.0755 on May 23, more than five times the level three years ago.

On Thursday, the December copper contract settled at $3.4560 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

High prices have led to soaring profits for mining companies.

This bonanza did not go unnoticed by Escondida's workers, who struck demanding $30,000 bonuses and 13 percent raises.

The contract they approved Thursday calls for a 5 percent wage increase and one-time bonuses totalling $16,600 for each worker.

A union spokesman, Pedro Marin, said the contract also includes health and education benefits for the union's 2,052 members.

The new contract will be signed Friday and strikers will return to work at the mine Saturday or Sunday at the latest, Aedo said.

The mine, 870 miles north of Santiago, cuts a deep bowl into the Atacama Desert, bordered by the Andes on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west.

The new contract was reached during negotiations Wednesday, but under Chilean law could not take effect until the vote, which was certified by the Labor Ministry.

The strike was closely followed across Chile, the world's largest copper producer, where the government is under pressure to spend more of its copper windfall and unions waited to see what kind of concessions the Escondida strikers would gain.

The government also kept close tabs on the strike, as labor leaders at large state-owned copper mines said the outcome at Escondida would be a model for negotiations they are to hold in December.

Although the labor law does not allow government mediation, President Michelle Bachelet sent Labor Ministry officials to use "goodwill efforts" to bring the parties closer.

Chile represented about 36 percent of world copper production in 2005, well ahead of second-place producer the United States, with about 8 percent of world output, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.