Workers at the world's largest copper mine have gone on strike, jeopardizing eight percent of global production and spurring prices to a three-week high.Pedro Marin, a trade union spokesman at the Escondida mine that belongs to the Anglo-Australian giant BHP Billiton, said: "This is the first real strike in the company's history. We do not know how it will turn out, but we are ready to hang in there."
More than 2,000 workers at the mine are demanding a 13-percent pay raise and a 30,000 dollar bonus.
