Cerro Verde Copper Miners Strike

In Peru at the Cerro Verde copper mine talks between management and workers failed and the mine workers intend to go on strike to improve benefits. The labor leader Leoncio Amudio said that there was no agreement and we continue in a bit of a deadlock.

After Chile, Peru is the world’s second largest copper producing nation. The mine of Cerro Verde is the third largest copper producing mine in the nation. It is owned by Freeport Mc MoRan and Buenaventura besides other companies.

In the first 11 months of 2010 the mine had produced 283,750 tonnes of copper. The talks between the union and the management have been mediated by the labor ministry of Peru. Unfortunately the final round of talks on Thursday also came to no consensus.

If the mine workers at Cerro Verde go on a prolonged strike it will give rise to concerns about copper supply in the global markets. Chile is also having trouble with labor and shipping at its Collahuasi mine and this is adding to the concern for tighter supplies of the red metal globally. Collahuasi holds the third largest copper deposit in the world.