BHP vows legal action at top copper mine after group enters site
SANTIAGO – BHP Billiton, the owner of the world’s biggest copper mine known as Escondida, said it will take legal action after a group of more than 300 people entered the mine site during a strike and forced some contractors to abandon the compound.
People wearing masks entered the mine site at 18:00 Santiago time on Saturday, threatening the staff of contract companies and setting off fire alarms, causing damage, the Melbourne-based company said in an e-mailed statement Sunday. A smaller group cut power to security cameras, it said.
The union, whose 2 500 members stopped work on Thursday after wage talks broke down, has set up a makeshift camp just outside the mine. Union President Patricio Tapia said while a group of members did enter the mine site, they marched peacefully around the contractor workers’ camp and left. They didn’t trigger alarms or break anything, Tapia said by phone Sunday.
The incident is the latest in a tense first four days of a strike that helped propel the price of copper to its biggest gain in almost four years on Friday, after Escondida declared force majeure on its shipments and a fire broke out in another dormitory area for contractors. The union denied any involvement.
Escondida accuses the union of sending fewer workers than authorized for a skeleton crew during the strike, thereby jeopardizing mine safety, as well as blocking access to contract companies. The union says it’s adhering to labor rules governing the skeleton crew and is blocking roads to prevent thieves and strike breakers from entering the site.
“We categorically reject these acts that not only infringe company values but also the law, and put at risk the safety of our people,” Escondida Corporate Affairs VP Patricio Vilaplana said in the statement. “As a result, the company will use all necessary resources and take the pertinent legal actions to guarantee the safety of all workers.”
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation