Workers accept BHP Billiton offer for Escondida Copper Mine to formally resolve Labor dispute

SMM8 20: according to BHP Billiton official news, the world's largest copper mine Escondida strike risk has been completely eliminated. Escondida employees said in a text message on Friday that workers had voted in favor of the latest wage proposal. The two sides later signed a contract. After reaching an agreement with management, union leaders made the proposal to about 2500 members this week, concluding three months of negotiations. BHP said in a statement earlier this week that the deal had been reached after "great efforts". Until the final stages of the negotiations, the two sides appeared to be deeply divided as unions insisted on defending interests, while BHP sought to rein in production costs in the volatile copper market. As the threat of Escondida supply shocks receded, so did the risk of copper supply concerns. Last week, demand concerns hit commodity markets hard, sending copper into a bear market, with three-month copper falling 0.2 per cent on Friday.