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Sindicato N°2 de Supervisores y Staff, representing more than 1,000 supervisors and employees at BHP’s Escondida copper mine in Chile, has called on its members to reject the company’s final wage offer and support strike action. Union president Alexis Barrera said the union leadership unanimously considered the proposal inadequate and objected to the company’s requirement for employees to perform multiple tasks. The offer will be presented to union members this week, with voting scheduled for September 28–30. If workers reject the company’s offer, a mandatory government mediation process lasting at least five days will begin. The mediation period may be extended by another five days if no agreement is reached, after which workers would be legally entitled to strike. Escondida is seeking to introduce a 14-days-on, 14-days-off shift schedule, but Barrera said the union would not accept the arrangement. “The differences between the two sides remain significant, and an agreement is still a long way off,” he said. Barrera added that workers fully trust the union committee and that a strike vote would be passed if required. The union’s current contract expires on September 30, 2026. It remains uncertain whether a strike will ultimately take place or how long it could last. The vote and further negotiations will be closely monitored.

Eldorado Gold's Skouries copper-gold project in northern Greece has produced its first copper-gold concentrate, moving the mine from construction into commissioning. The site has stockpiled roughly 4.6 million tonnes of ore to feed the plant. Designed to yield about 140,000 ounces of gold and 67 million pounds of copper a year, Skouries is scheduled to reach commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2026. As one of Europe's few large new copper-gold developments, the start-up adds regional refined-copper and gold-concentrate supply amid tight global copper markets.