Strike at Chile's Centinela Copper Mine Ends as Two Unions Ratify New Collective Contract with 94.49% Approval
Workers from two unions at Chile's Centinela copper mine have ratified an agreement reached with Antofagasta Minerals on a new collective bargaining contract, ending a strike of more than a week, the unions and the company said on Sunday, Reuters reported on October 18.
More than 700 members of the Distrito Centinela and Minera Esperanza unions began the strike on October 7 after contract talks broke down. They had sought equal benefits for workers regardless of which union they belonged to. The parties returned to the negotiating table on Tuesday in an effort to resolve the dispute. Three workers had been on a hunger strike in an effort to pressure both sides into finding a solution to the deadlocked talks.
"The Distrito Centinela and Minera Esperanza unions announce the successful conclusion of our collective bargaining process, after 94.49% of participating workers voted to approve the proposed collective agreement," the unions said in a statement, which was followed by a company statement confirming the deal.
Antofagasta said on Wednesday it had managed to maintain production at normal levels, avoiding any negative impact from the strike at the mine, which produced 240,400 metric tons of copper in 2025. The strike at Centinela, along with the ultimately unrealized risk of a supervisors' strike at BHP's Escondida mine, had been supporting global copper prices amid concerns about the industry's ability to increase supply sufficiently to meet expected future demand. (GSM, from Reuters reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：智利丘基卡马塔铜矿卫星图资料照片。照片：Alexander Gerst，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0。Photo: an aerial view of the Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile (file photo). Photo by Alexander Gerst via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
