BHP Group Ltd and the union at its Escondida copper mine in Chile announced in the first week of August that they had achieved a tentative agreement for a new contract.
However, the union will need a couple more days to submit the new contract to workers for approval, it was said around the same time.
The tentative agreement allays concerns that the union may call a strike at the world’s largest copper mine. Chile, the world’s top copper producer, experienced a historic 44-day shutdown in 2017, which shook copper prices and hindered economic growth.
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Metal prices rose to all-time highs earlier this year, giving labor unions more bargaining power.
The ongoing negotiation between the company and the powerful 2,300-member union has kept global copper markets on edge as demand rises and supply remains difficult amid a nascent global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
