Last week, news surfaced of a potential strike at Antofagasta Minerals’ (LON:$ANTO) Zaldivar copper mine, located in Chile. The mine is also partially owned by the world’s biggest gold mining company, Barrick Gold (TSE:$ABX) — Barrick sold half of the property to Antofagasta for $1 billion in 2015.

On July 10, 2017, workers at the Zaldivar mine has decided to strike via voting after talks with both Antofagasta and Barrick failed. However, workers will not be striking immediately, a union leader informed Reuters. There will be a government mediation period for at least five days before workers can legally cease working. The strike will be a first in Antofagasta’s company history.

The strike could impact Antofagasta’s production, and in turn, the company’s shares. This is a shame to the company and its investors as Antofagasta reported a 7.3% rise in production, putting out 26,600 tonnes of copper at a cash cost of around $1.75 per pound. In 2016, the mine produced about 102,000 tonnes of copper in total that year.

Besides a strike at its Zaldivar mine, Antofagasta could also face another one at its Centinela mine — further affecting the company’s overall production. The Centinela mine produced about 180,000 of copper in 2016.

Currently, Antofagasta ranks number 9 in the list of the world’s biggest copper producers, with a total of 477,000 tonnes of copper produced last year. Chile as a whole is responsible for about 30% of the world’s copper production. The strike at Zaldivar mine could put Chile even lower in the world — a 43-day strike at Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, earlier this year has already cost Chile’s total copper output by around 120,000 tonnes.

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