Strike to continue at Chile's Escondida copper mine

A strike at Chile's Escondida, the world's biggest mined copper deposit, entered a third week today after union workers rejected the company's latest wage offer but said they wanted to continue talks.

Workers chanting slogans against the mine rejected a proposal late on Sunday, accusing majority-owner BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc of fiddling with numbers in its new contract proposal that included bonuses and interest-free loans worth about $32,000 ($50,760) per worker.

The strike has seen daily production at Escondida cut in half since it started on Aug. 7 and forced the miner to declare force majeure on shipments of copper concentrates. Escondida usually produces roughly 3500 tonnes a day of copper.

"Independent of the vote, we are going to ask the company to sit down to talk as soon as possible because we are also interested in reaching an agreement soon," union spokesman Pedro Marin told Reuters in Antofagasta, Chile's mining capital on the northern Pacific coast.

But it was not clear on Monday when talks might restart.

Copper futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Monday as the strike dragged on. Copper for September delivery HGU6 advanced 9.55 cents (NZ15.14cents) cents to $3.5300 a pound.

As of Monday, the fifteenth day of the strike, Chilean law says individual workers from the 2052-member union can go back to work and strike their own deals with the company.

The strike has generated debate in Chile about fair wages as profits soar for copper mining firms, the backbone of the Chilean economy, and has sent prices for the metal up and down as investors bet on how it will end.

The company's latest offer on Sunday included two contract options, a four-year deal and a three-year deal, and were an improvement over earlier proposals.

- REUTERS