SANTIAGO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Workers from two striking unions at Antofagasta's Centinela copper mine in Chile reached a preliminary agreement on a new collective contract, ending a strike that has lasted more than a week at the mine, the unions said late on Friday in a statement sent to its members.
The unions called a meeting on Friday night to present the agreement to members and a vote to ratify it will be held on Saturday.
The more than 700 members of Distrito Centinela and Minera Esperanza unions
began the strike on October 7 after contract talks failed. They had demanded that workers have the same benefits regardless of the union they belong to.
The unions returned to the negotiating table this week to find a resolution to the conflict.
Three striking workers had also been on a hunger strike since October 9 to pressure the parties into reaching a solution to the stalled talks.
Antofagasta said it had presented the striking unions with new proposals covering key issues and offering a significant improvement in economic terms.
The strike at Centinela, along with the threat of a strike at BHP’s Escondida mine in Chile, has been supporting global copper prices amid fears that it would be difficult to boost supply to meet projected future demand.
Antofagasta said this week it has managed to maintain production at normal levels, avoiding the negative effects of the work stoppage. In 2025, Centinela produced 240,400 metric tons of copper.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Editing by Iñigo Alexander and Tom Hogue)
