Escondida Miners Reject Offer

Striking miners in Chile’s Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper mine, have rejected a pay offer from BHP Billiton and are continuing their two-week long strike, which last week shut down production. Despite mediation by the government over the weekend, which restarted talks between workers and management, a pay rise and bonus offer by the Anglo-Australian owners was rejected late Sunday night. Growing demand for copper has pushed up prices over the past 12 months and workers are looking for a greater share in mining profits. In January contract workers at Chile’s state-owned Codelco copper mine went on strike for 17 days demanding a bigger slice of windfall profits.