Chilean Copper Mine Flouted Worker Safety, and Now Warns of Bankruptcy

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6380/chilean_copper_mine_flouted_worker_safety/

Monday August 30 12:21 pm

By Lindsay Beyerstein


Chilean Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne (2nd L) opens a tube used to send supplies to the trapped miners in Copiapo, 800 kilometers north of Santiago, on August 29, 2010. (Photo by ARIEL MARINKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images


The world rejoiced when 33 Chilean miners were found alive on August 22 in an underground refuge after an explosion in the San Jose copper mine. Chile's media-savvy president has staked his political career on a successful, and very public rescue effort.

But given the understandable elation of finding the men alive and their protracted rescue, it's easy to lose sight of the corporate malfeasance that caused the disaster in the first place.

Chile is the world's leading producer of copper. With the price of copper at a record high, mining companies are scrambling to extract as much ore as they can while the boom lasts. As we saw with BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster, a rush to make a quick buck is not conducive to safety.

Union leaders say mining is getting more dangerous all over Chile.

Javier Castillo, the secretary of a union that represents miners at another mine owned by San Esteban Primera, said in an interview that managers are proceeding without input from workers. Castillo said he used to work at San Jose, but that he found himself "marginalized" by anti-union practices.The owners of the San Jose mine may face criminal charges for failing to install alternate exist routes, as they were required to do by law.

When the miners first made contact with the outside world, 18 days after the initial explosion, someone had to tell them that the legally mandated emergency ladder didn't exist. The evacuation exit remained clear for 48 hours and the miners could have escaped during that window, if only they'd had the ladder.

FULL story at link.