“The economic scenario has changed enormously,” union spokesman Carlos Allendes said by phone earlier this month. “The company will have to make an effort and open up a dialog; we don’t rule anything out if they keep the same position.”
Speaking in Florida on Monday at a mining conference hosted by BMO Capital Markets, Mackenzie said one-off events including planned smelter maintenance at its Olympic Dam mine in Australia limited productivity gains for the half year to February. That was partly offset by increased efficiency at Escondida and the ramp-up of a plant that allowed the mine to process a record amount of material.
BHP has said it expects to deliver $2 billion of net productivity gains by the end of the 2019 financial year.
Chile is going through its busiest-ever year for wage talks, with mines at the top copper-producing country negotiating contracts with 32 unions. These sites represent about three-quarters of the country’s copper output, or about one-fifth of world production. With supply constrained after years of cutbacks spurred by low prices, any disruptions resulting from strikes could quickly tighten up the market, according to analysts at Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc.
(Written by Laura Millan Lombrana)
