Miners go on strike at Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde mine in Chile after talks fail

Hundreds of miners began a strike on Friday at Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde copper and gold mine in northern Chile after talks between the main union and the company on new labour contracts broke down.

In a statement Friday, the Union No. 2 of Mantoverde said it had enough resources to sustain the strike for at least two months, which it claims could generate losses of up to $160 million.

The union said its 645 members began the strike at 8 a.m. local time (11:00 GMT) after failing to reach an agreement late on Thursday. The union said negotiations fell apart after the company didn’t agree to the union’s final demands, which had estimated cost of about $500,000 a year, representing about 0.03% of the company’s projected income of $1.4 billion.

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and the strike comes at a time when global copper prices have soared to record highs.

In a statement after the mediated talks failed late on Thursday, Canada-based Capstone said it was open to talks to resolve the dispute, adding that the striking workers represented about half of the workers at the mine and 22% of the company’s total workforce. It also expects output to run at up to 30% during the stoppage.

Capstone owns 70% of Mantoverde with Mitsubishi Materials owning the remaining 30%. The mine’s expected 2025 production is between 29,000 and 32,000 metric tons of copper. In total, Chile’s copper production in 2025 was expected to be about 5.5 million tons, according to state copper commission Cochilco.

(By Alexander Villegas; Editing by Susan Fenton)