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Workers strike at world's largest copper producer, Chile's Codelco

Workers at Chile's state mining company Codelco, the largest producer of copper in the world, went on an "indefinite" strike on Wednesday, unions said, protesting the closure of a foundry in one of the country's most polluted regions.

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Workers strike at worlds largest copper producer, Chiles Codelco

Last week, President Gabriel Boric hit out at Chile's record on polluting the environment.

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Workers strike at worlds largest copper producer, Chiles Codelco

"We don't want any more areas of (environmental) sacrifice," he said.

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Workers strike at worlds largest copper producer, Chiles Codelco

"There are now hundreds of thousands of people who live in our country exposed to severe degradation of the environment that we have provoked or allowed and, as a Chilean, that makes me feel ashamed."

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Workers strike at worlds largest copper producer, Chiles Codelco

Pollution accumulated in the area of Quintero and Puchuncavi, home to around 50,000 people, after the government decided in 1958 to convert it into an industrial center that now hosts four coal-fired power stations and oil and copper refineries.