Collahuasi copper mine operators, strikers set for key test

Union leaders and operators of the world's No.3 copper mine, Chile's Collahuasi, faced off on Friday as management sought to breakghana gold mine for sale up a two-week strike with a "final" offer while labor action leaders vowed to stay out.

The management, which has put forward a slightly better offer than a prior one in early November to entice employees to return to work, said it would not go back to the negotiating table -- deepening the divide between the two sides. Union leaders said workers will stay on the picket line until management agrees to revive the stalled wage talks. The new offer is a key test of strength for the union and the strike, the biggest among privately owned mines in Chile since workers downed tools for 26 days at Escondida in 2006. The union says the strike is already taking a toll on the mine, which yields 3.3 percent of the world's mined copper, or 1,500 tonnes per day, and that management's latest manoeuvre was a "desperate act" to halt further output losses. Analysts agree copper output levels are likely far from normal. But the company insists mine output is normal under a contingency plan, but has not detailed what normal means. Settling the dispute is seen as...