Candelaria workers union accepts Lundin’s new agreement

A union on strike at Chile’s Candelaria copper mine has accepted a new 35-month collective agreement from Canadian miner Lundin Mining Corp, the company said on Friday, following an over month-long walk-off at the deposit.

The Candelaria Mine Workers Union represents about 350 workers at the Chilean copper mine.

“The strike is effectively over,” Lundin spokesman Mark Turner said.

Lundin said the safe ramp-up of Candelaria, which produced 111,400 tons of copper in 2019, to full capacity is underway and the company plans to reintroduce its 2020 guidance for the operation within its annual outlook update next week.

The Candelaria copper mine, owned by the Canadian miner, announced plans to suspend operations at the mine on Oct. 20, after two unions called on their workers to begin strikes.

As part of the collective bargaining cycle, agreements have been reached this year with all five unions representing employees at the Candelaria Copper Mining Complex, Lundin Mining said in a statement on Friday.

(By Arunima Kumar and Jeff Lewis; Editing by Devika Syamnath)