Workers at Colombia's top coal mine plan to strike

Workers at Cerrejón, a Colombian coal mine owned by BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Anglo American, plan to go on strike after wage talks broke down, a union official said.

About 4,500 workers voted for a work stoppage at Cerrejón, the country’s largest coal mine, starting between February 1 and 9 to press their demands for an 8.5 percent pay rise and better health-care benefits.

The mine is investing $1.3 billion to boost output to 40 million tons by 2014, Carlos Franco, international relations manager, said.

Cerrejón produced 34.6 million tons of coal in 2012.

Source: Bloomberg