- Write by:
-
Monday, September 9, 2019 - 4:18:51 PM
-
1414 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - Chile’s Minera Zaldívar, which is 50% owned by Barrick Gold and 50% by Antofagasta Minerals — the mining arm of Antofagasta Plc — yielded to the demands of the Supervisors Union to avoid a strike that had been looming since late August.
Following weeks of negotiations, the company offered a 1% salary readjustment plus a bonus of approximately $11,943 per employee, an offer that was approved by 53% of the unionized workers and that is valid for the next 36 months. The 47% that rejected the bid were asking for a bonus of over $18,000, which was the union’s initial proposal.
The company also said that it will introduce new measures to improve the workers’ quality of life, including educational and healthcare benefits.
On August 23, 2019, 94% of Minera Zaldívar’s unionized workers rejected the company’s first proposal and called for a general strike. In an official communiqué, they refused Antofagasta’s arguments of lack of cash flow as an obstacle for accepting their suggested bonuses and salary increases.
“The company reported revenues of $2.5 billion during the first semester of the year. Antofagasta Plc reported an income growth of 19% during the first half of 2019 thanks to increased gold and molybdenum production and prices, two subproducts that the Group commercializes. This way, it counteracted the 6% fall in copper prices,” the statement reads. “However, the company doesn’t seem willing to negotiate, dismissing the chance to add value to its business through the different proposals presented by the union.”
The fact that the company was able to provide a middle ground and avoid a strike meant that Zaldívar remains undefeated, as no stoppage has ever taken place at the quarter-century-old operation.
The open-pit, heap-leach copper mine operated by Antofagasta Minerals is located some 175 kilometres south of the city of Antofagasta. It produces approximately 51,700 tonnes of copper per year and has a remaining mine life of 14 years.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/421445
Capstone Copper, alongside shareholders Orion Fund JV Ltd., Orion Mine Finance Fund II LP and Orion Mine Finance ...
Lithium heavyweight Chile is drawing interest from South Korean battery makers keen to develop processing plants there, ...
Copper production in Peru rose 10.9% in November from the year-ago month to 253,582 metric tons, the Andean nation’s ...
Mining News Pro - Copper output in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the red metal, decreased 3.1% year-on-year in ...
Mining News Pro - A rebound in lithium exports from the No. 2 supplier Chile offers some relief for the nation’s two ...
Mining News Pro - Mining companies are jostling to negotiate lithium deals under a new government model in Chile.
Mining News Pro - Codelco and Anglo American Plc are exploring options to coordinate mining activities at their ...
Mining News Pro - Chilean miner Antofagasta (LON: ANTO) posted on Thursday a 7.5% increase in half-year profit as higher ...
Mining News Pro - Albemarle, the world’s top lithium producer, said on Friday it had closed an early collective ...
No comments have been posted yet ...