Reuters reports that the San Cristobal silver mine in Bolivia is back into production, after a 12 day worker strike. Have to love Reuters' explanation of implications to the silver market as according to Reuters, the price of silver is "is detached from fundamentals." Hmm. So a 12 day strike at the world's 3rd largest silver producer has no affect on the price of silver because its price is only affected by JP Morgue's paper?
We gotcha. Makes sense to us. Of course, JPMorgue will have to come up with some more of the actual shiny stuff again in April, so maybe at some point supply will matter.
LA PAZ (Reuters) -
Work has resumed at Bolivia's largest silver mine, San Cristobal, following a 12-day strike, the union and operating company said on Monday.
San Cristobal, which also produces zinc and lead, is the world's third-largest producer of silver and the sixth-largest producer of zinc, according to Japan's Sumitomo Corp (8053.T), which owns the mine.
"We're working as normal, but we're still pressing our demands ... we expect to have come to a (definitive) agreement regarding our demands by April 9," union leader Juan Barrios told a local radio station.
Union members want better working conditions and improved medical services at the mine's remote location after the death of a miner in early March.
The mines's output will take several days to return to normal because of the complexity of the operations, a company spokesperson told Reuters.
San Cristobal, some 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) high in the Andes in Bolivia's central Potosi region, produced some 620,000 kg of fine silver in 2009, according to official data.
The end of the strike was confirmed by Hector Cordova, deputy mining minister, who said he was confident operations at the mine would not be affected again in the immediate future.
San Cristobal's dispute has had little impact on the price of silver because the metal is detached from fundamentals.
