Antofagasta’s Los Pelambres copper mine workers vote to strike

Los Pelambres, located 200km north of Chile’s capital Santiago, is the company’s flagship mine. (Image courtesy of Antofagasta plc.)

Unionized workers at Antofagasta’s (LON:ANTO) Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile voted to strike Friday after rejecting the company’s latest offer for a collective labour agreement.

“Around 99% of the voting workers voted in favour of a legal strike,” Federación Minera de Chile treasurer Dino Saltori said in a statement (in Spanish), adding the union has 447 members.

The stoppage will be the first strike ever to hit Antofagasta.

Los Pelambres recently received environmental approval for a $1.1 billion expansion plan, which will add 55,000 tonnes of copper a year once in full operation.

The mine produced 356,300 tonnes of copper last year.