Chile’s Codelco Faces Mine Protests

Bloomberg reported that Chilean copper mines owned by Chile’s Codelco have faced protests regarding job security. The Collahuasi mine, owned by Anglo American plc (LSE:AAL) and Xstrata plc (LSE:XTA) and also located in Chile, has been unaffected.

As quoted in the market news:

Codelco’s mining operations weren’t affected by groups of protesters, a company official briefed on the matter said by telephone, declining to be named citing company policy. Codelco’s Andina division was ‘paralyzed’ after employees of contracted companies blocked access to shift workers, said Claudio Valenzuela, a spokesman for the contract workers union.

Workers also marched along roads outside Codelco’s Chuquicamata, Radomiro Tomic and Gaby mines and caused interruptions at its Ventanas smelter, Valenzuela said by telephone from Andina. The protests will be scaled down in the coming hours, he said.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.