Chilean court orders halt of union roadblocks at Caserones mine

Caserones copper mine is located at an altitude of 4,200m to 4,600m above sea-level in the Atacama Desert, close to the border with Argentina. (Image courtesy of Lumina Copper Chile.)

A Chilean court ordered a striking union at the Caserones copper mine to stop blocking roads around the mine, according to a ruling released on Wednesday.

Canada’s Lundin Mining, which owns the mine, filed a complaint with a court in the northern city of Copiapo amid a strike that has lasted over a week.

“The union is ordered to immediately cease blocking the routes that allow workers to enter both the Caserones Mine and the internal routes that connect the Camp with the industrial areas,” the court said in its ruling, seen by Reuters.

The union has around 300 members, representing 30% of the total number of employees at Caserones.

The court also banned bus stops and inspections that the company claims are carried out by the strikers, saying that it threatens the freedom of employees not participating in the strike to work.

Neither the union nor the company immediately responded to a request for comment. The union launched the strike in mid August and told Reuters this week that the dispute showed no signs of being resolved soon.

(By Fabian Andres Cambero and Alexander VIllegas; Editing by Diane Craft)

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