By Simon Gardner
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean copper giant Codelco againsuspended operations at its Teniente division, home to theworld's largest underground copper mine, due to strikeviolence, a company source said Tuesday.
State-owned Codelco, which with output of around 1.7million tonnes of copper a year is the No. 1 global producer,first closed its smaller Salvador and Andina divisions 14 daysago due to the latest in a series of at times violent strikesby subcontracted miners.
The Confederation of Copper Workers, which groups thousandsof subcontractors, launched a new company-wide strike over payand working conditions on April 16, demanding a bigger share ofwindfall revenues from prices which have jumped nearlyseven-fold this decade.
Sporadic violence has flared, with protesters breaking buswindows with stones, causing some injuries, blocking roads withburning tires and severed tree trunks, and damaging mineequipment.
Monday night was no exception.
"Last night there were violent acts, instigated by the(subcontractors') Confederation of Copper Workers, by smallgroups which stopped workers from beginning their shift, sothey had to be sent home for security reasons," the source toldReuters on condition of anonymity.
Work at Teniente has suffered a series of disruptions sincethe strike began.
Codelco had no immediate official comment.
Leading daily El Mercurio on Tuesday reported that around12,000 subcontract workers had accepted the offer of anadvanced bonus payment aimed at defusing the strike.
Analysts this week estimated lost output so far at around15,000 tonnes -- a small amount in a market thought last yearto have consumed about 18 million tonnes of the metal usedwidely in the power and construction industries.
Subcontractors have vowed to push on with their protest,which has helped keep global copper prices near-record highs ofabout $4 per lb, with markets already nervous about inventoriesstretched thin.
The strike continued to underpin copper prices on Tuesday,which drifted lower on the London Metal Exchange ahead ofeconomic data that could suggest the longer-term outlook forU.S. interest rates and in turn commodity markets.
Codelco says it has fulfilled its end of agreements reachedlast year with subcontractors, including a deal to absorb someof them into its full-time ranks. The government has called fora speedy end to the feud -- the latest in a series of headachesfor President Michelle Bachelet.
Andina, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the Chileancapital, produced 218,000 tonnes of copper in 2007. Salvador,685 miles (1,100 km) north of Santiago, produced 64,000 tonnesof copper last year,
Teniente, 50 miles (80 km) south of Santiago, produced405,000 tonnes of copper last year. Codelco's Norte andVentanas divisions have run normally throughout the strike.
(Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by John Picinich)