Codelco reaches early contract agreement with El Teniente unions

Chile’s state copper miner Codelco said on Wednesday it reached early contract agreements with unions at its major El Teniente complex, as well as the Ministro Hales division.

Union negotiations at Chilean copper mines are being closely watched by analysts and investors since a strike last month at BHP’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, which resulted in an improved bonus for workers.

The agreements at El Teniente, one of Codelco’s biggest units, encompassed talks with five unions, representing nearly 3,150 workers. The new contract will take effect Nov. 1 and last through 2027.

Andres Music, general manager of El Teniente, said the deal will introduce new labor practices that are poised to increase the company’s productivity.

“Codelco appreciates the climate of dialogue and understanding in which the negotiations were carried out,” the company said in a statement, noting that it sought to balance business variables and safety with incentives and benefits for workers.

At Ministro Hales, a smaller division that produced 126,000 metric tons of copper last year, the new three-year contract will take effect in December.

Codelco did not detail the specific terms for either mine site.

(By Fabian Andres Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Sarah Morland and Alistair Bell)