SMM6, 17 March: the president of Union No. 2 of Chuquicamata Copper Mine said that the workers of Union No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 of Chuquicamata Copper Mine went on strike at 5: 00 a.m. on Friday (June 14), and all roads to the copper mine were blocked.
The strike is likely to have a more far-reaching impact, with Chuquicamata producing 321000 tons of copper last year, accounting for about 2 per cent of the global copper supply, so the strike is likely to tighten the global copper supply.
SMM believes that in May spot copper concentrate TC maintained a downward trend, the current clean mine spot TC at US $60 / ton, directly pointing to the psychological threshold of US $60 / ton, some of which have been traded below 60. The restart of Codelco's Chuquicamata copper smelter has been blocked for further pressure testing at the smelter. "correlation Analysis-[SMM interpretation] the tightening pattern of strike copper mines in Chuquicamata Copper Mine is still intensified.
According to the latest June headcount released by Codelco, the three unions represent about 3800 workers at the Chuquicamata copper mine, which has a total of 5243 workers.
And as Chuquicamata gradually shifts from open-pit operations to underground operations, about 1700 jobs will be lost.
