FCX Freeport McMoRan Inc

Unionized workers at copper mining company Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA, (CVERDEC1.VL) controlled by U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, (FCX) are threatening to walk off the job in mid-month.

Luis Castillo, president of the National Mining Federation said there were at least six outstanding points in the collective agreement that the union says aren't being complied with.

Those include transportation of workers and having the company comply with overtime payments, Castillo said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Castillo said the union could present its strike plan tomorrow and there would be a space of five working days for that process to be approved by the Ministry of Labor.

A union member at the mine said he hoped a strike could be averted.

"Highlighting the risk for supply disruption, workers at Freeport McMoran's Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA copper mine in Peru plan to strike on 14 January if the company fails to meet eight requests they have proposed. Last year, production at the mine over Jan-Nov was up by 7% to 283.7Kt, or making up just under 2% of global output. While a relatively small proportion of global output, a potential strike in a tight global market is supportive for sentiment," Barclays Capital metals analyst Yingxi Yu said in a report.

Representatives for the company weren't immediately available to respond to an e-mail request for comment sent early Thursday.

In the third quarter Cerro Verde produced 164.8 million pounds of copper compared with 160.9 million pounds in the same quarter of the previous year.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA (BVN) and a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corp. (8053.TO) also have equity stakes in the company.

The mine is located in southern Peru.

-By Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; 511-221-7050; peru@dowjones.com

-Rhiannon Hoyle contributed to this article

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