Workers at world's biggest copper mine in Chile suspend strike

Workers at the world's largest copper mine in Chile suspended a strike launched earlier this week and restarted negotiations with Australian mining giant BHP, the union and management announced.

Patrico Tapia, president of the union at the Escondida mine in northern Chile, told AFP on Friday the return to talks was "confirmed."

The strike began with workers' demands including shorter work days, bigger bonuses and compensation for total years worked.

Decline in country's GDP

A key demand has also long been that one percent of shareholder dividends for the Escondida mine, which produces 5.4 percent of the world's copper, be distributed among workers.

Chile is the world's largest copper producer with annual production of more than five million metric tons, nearly a quarter of global output.

Escondida, which is an open-air mine located in Antofagasta in the country's north, produces close to 1.1 million tons of copper a year.

When workers at the mine went on a 44-day strike in 2017 -- the longest in Chile's mining history -- BHP lost $740 million, contributing to a 1.3 percent decline in the country's GDP.