Striking Argentine miners have halted production at AngloGold Ashanti's Cerro Vanguardia gold and silver mine to press demands for a pay bonus, a company official said on Wednesday.
The Patagonian mine, which is expected to produce about 211 000 ounces of gold this year, has been at a standstill since midday on Tuesday and the company is negotiating with union leaders.
"We're talking with the union. The (government) Labor Secretary ordered compulsory conciliation mobile crusher last night, but the union still hasn't complied so we're expecting a solution in the coming hours," mine spokesman Eduardo Garcia de las Longas told Reuters by telephone.
He said the strike was called by the Argentine Mining Belt Conveyor Labor Association (AOMA) to demand a one-off bonus that had not been agreed as part of annual pay talks that closed in December with a deal to raise salaries by a total of 33 percent.
Union leaders could not immediately be reached for vibrating screen plant comment.
Inflation is running at more than 20 percent, according to private estimates, increasing labor unrest this year in Latin America's No. 3 economy.
Cerro Vanguardia -- AngloGold Ashanti's only Argentine mine -- is expected to produce 2.2 million ounces of silver this year, Garcia de las Longas said.
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