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Antofagasta’s Centinela strike adds copper supply risk
Copper prices recovered on Wednesday as more than 700 workers began a strike at Antofagasta Plc’s (LON: ANTO) Centinela mine in Chile, adding another supply threat in the world’s largest copper-producing nation.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.1% at $14,405.50 per tonne by 0950 GMT. The metal has gained about 16% this year, with tight supply helping support prices despite Wednesday’s stronger dollar.
The walkout started at 8 a.m. local time after mediation overseen by Chile’s Labour Inspectorate failed to resolve the wage dispute, according to the Minera Esperanza and Distrito Centinela unions. The striking employees represent 22% of Centinela’s direct workforce and the stoppage will restrict operations, the unions said.
Antofagasta said it was “willing to continue discussions with their representatives in order to reach an agreement that takes into account the interests of both parties.”
The dispute adds to labour tensions across Chile’s copper industry as prices hover near record levels and miners contend with weather-related and operational setbacks. Supervisors at BHP’s (ASX, LON: BHP) Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, are also in government-mediated talks aimed at averting a strike.
Pay divide
A key sticking point at Centinela is differences in pay and benefits among employees performing the same jobs but belonging to different unions. The unions said Antofagasta rejected a proposed mechanism to eliminate the disparities without offering an alternative.
The differences stem partly from changes to collective bargaining schedules. In 2017, the company negotiated in parallel with its three existing unions, producing agreements with largely equivalent terms. Since 2020, bargaining schedules have been separated, with negotiated increases taking effect at different times.
The stoppage is the first strike at Centinela, one of Antofagasta’s four mining operations in Chile, and only the second in the company’s history. Centinela produced 240,400 metric tons of copper last year.
A prolonged disruption could tighten an already constrained copper market, particularly if labour disputes spread or coincide with further operational problems at major Chilean mines.
Despite the walkout, Antofagasta said it does not expect the disruption to alter its production outlook.
Codelco probes over-inflated 2024-25 copper production figures
Chile’s Codelco is investigating new evidence of over-reported copper production in 2024 and 2025, the state-run miner said on Tuesday, a probe that could further stoke industry concerns about the reliability of the firm’s production figures as it struggles to lift output.
The reported figures showed artificially inflated output from the Ministro Hales and Salvador divisions during those years, potentially due to both mines claiming the same production, it added.
The finding was revealed amid a production audit for 2024 and 2025 ordered this year by Bernardo Fontaine, the newly appointed chairman, as the miner faced scrutiny over its debt and long-standing production challenges.
Codelco previously fired an executive and took disciplinary action against others following an audit into improper reporting of its 2025 production involving the Chuquicamata and Ministro Hales mines.
In those cases, materials that required further processing should not have been reported as finished products, it said.
Codelco is now investigating how the newly detected inconsistencies could have occurred, and whether there will be financial impacts.
“Based on the information available so far, the inconsistency seems to be that the same material was recorded as production by more than one division,” Codelco said in a statement.
The firm tapped consulting company EY to conduct an external audit and submitted the new findings to the public prosecutor’s office.
“Management has decided to thoroughly investigate any irregularity, determine who is responsible, apply the appropriate sanctions, and seek to recover any financial losses that may have occurred,” CEO Jorge Gomez said in a statement.
Codelco, one of the world’s largest copper producers, aims to produce 1.7 million metric tons of copper a year by 2030, but its leadership has said output in coming years is likely to stay similar to current levels. Last year’s production at Codelco’s own mines stood at 1.33 million tons.
The miner is working to recover from a slump in 2022 and 2023 when production fell to two-decade lows.
In March, Reuters reported that leading copper industry analysts and former Codelco executives questioned its reported surge in output at the end of last year, figures that helped the company meet its annual production target.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Paolo Laudani; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and David Gregorio)
Codelco restructures team for Anglo American mine JV
Codelco has restructured the management team overseeing its planned joint venture with Anglo American’s Los Bronces copper mine, dissolving a dedicated vice presidency for the project, according to a document seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Claudia Monreal Lopez has been appointed to lead the new team, assuming her role on October 27, with a mandate to ensure coordination across all Codelco areas involved in the project, according to a resolution signed by Chief Executive Jorge Gomez.
The state-owned company dissolved the vice presidency of integration for the project in early September.
Codelco’s Andina mine and Anglo American’s Los Bronces are both located in the Andes mountains northeast of Santiago.
The companies reached a final agreement in late June to jointly operate the deposits, targeting an average of about 120,000 metric tons of additional copper per year between 2030 and 2051.
The venture would generate at least $5 billion in additional pre-tax value for both companies, the partners said.
The companies plan to submit two separate environmental permit applications in December to advance the project, according to documents obtained by Reuters.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero, Writing by Iñigo Alexander, Editing by Natalia Siniawski)
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