Chile Faces Mine Stoppages as Workers Join Protests

(Bloomberg) -- Anti-government protests that have shaken the world’s largest copper producing nation Chile for the past three days have spread to the mining sector as unions call for stoppages.

Workers at BHP Ltd.’s Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper operation, will hold a “warning stoppage” for 10 hours starting late Monday or early on Tuesday in solidarity with protests taking place across the country, according to Union No. 1. Umbrella group of unions and mining federations CTMIN is calling for a general mining strike on Oct. 23.

The stoppage risks disrupting copper supply from the world’s largest producer, with ports already being impacted by protests. Copper futures climbed to the highest in more than a month in New York.

“Major streets and highways around Santiago have been shut down with any significant port disruptions offering up near term support to copper prices,” Colin Hamilton, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

Union Portuaria de Chile said Sunday that workers across 20 ports would leave their job posts at 10 a.m. local time to join peaceful demonstrations. Some of the affected ports handle copper, including Iquique, Tocopilla, Antofagasta and Ventanas. San Antonio, Chile’s largest port, will also be impacted.

Riots, protests and looting are taking place across Chile, where eight people have died about 1,500 have been arrested. In a televised speech to the nation late Sunday, the president praised the security forces and likened the rioters to a criminal organization. “We are at war,” he said, adding that rioters “represent evil.”

“Violence goes both ways and you don’t extinguish fire with fire,” said CTMIN in a statement. The group of mining unions called for the government to lift the state of emergency and end the curfews. It asked its members not to go to work to “protect their families and demonstrate peacefully for a fairer society.”

A wave of arson attacks, looting and riots brought the capital Santiago to a near standstill during the weekend, according to government figures. Pinera has declared a state of emergency and called on the army to restore order.

“We can’t remain indifferent to the social movement out there,” said Patricio Tapia, president of Escondida Union No. 1 in a telephone interview Monday. “Something’s not right with this country and 14-year-olds were the first ones to say so -- now it’s workers’ turn to say enough is enough.”

Violent protests against an increase in metro ticket fares started in capital Santiago on Friday and quickly spread to the rest of the country. Pinera declared a state of emergency in some parts of Santiago that was later expanded to the whole city, and to several other regions across central Chile. A curfew and military forces patrolling the capital day and night have so far failed to prevent chaos.

CTMIN includes the Federation of Unions of Antofagasta Minerals (FESAM), Federation of Supervisors of Private Mining, federation of Codelco professional workers FESUC. Another organization signing the statement is mining federation FMC, which includes unions from Collahuasi, Anglo American’s Los Bronces, Teck’s Quebrada Blanca, Antofagasta’s Los Pelambres and Zaldivar, Freeport’s El Abra, BHP’s Spence

It is unclear how the planned stoppages will impact copper production or shipments in a country that produces about a third of the world’s supply of the red metal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Millan Lombrana in Santiago at lmillan4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Luzi Ann Javier at ljavier@bloomberg.net, Joe Richter

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