By Pav Jordan
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A violent protest and a false bombthreat at Chile's El Teniente, the world's largest undergroundcopper mine, halted work there for much of Tuesday, raisingquestions about relations between state miner Codelco andsubcontracted workers.
The stoppage occurred after subcontracted workers blockedaccess to the mine around 0700 local time (10 p.m. Britishtime), preventing a union shift change and leading to ashut-down of the mine until 1600 local (7 p.m. British time).
"Today at 1600 hours, with the entry of the 'B' shift, theproductive process was returned to normal," Codelco said in astatement.
Codelco is due to resume negotiations on March 14 withsubcontract workers across its divisions to discuss workconditions, including salaries and benefits.
The umbrella group of subcontract workers - some 30,000across divisions - said in January they would disrupt outputacross Codelco mines if they cannot reach accords soon.
During the protest on Tuesday, subcontractors threw rocksat buses, threatened union workers and set fire to tires alongthe road that leads to the mine in the Andean mountains.
The company said eight people were arrested during theprotests.
Codelco also said it received a false alarm about a bomb atthe mine that forced it to mobilize police and authorities.
Workers inside the mine worked beyond their regular shifthours, but eventually had to leave their posts without beingreplaced by another shift as the protest continued.
A source at Codelco said earlier the output shortfall wouldlikely be replaced.
"But this is not the optimal way things should be done,"the source said.
It was the second such blockade in a month by subcontractworkers at Teniente, just south of the capital Santiago.
El Teniente produces about 418,00 tonnes of copper per yearand 4,749 tonnes of molybdenum.
(Editing by Christian Wiessner)
