Striking miners scuffle with other workers at Mexico's largest copper mine
1:00 AM

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Striking miners and other workers scuffled with rocks and sticks at Mexico's largest copper mine, injuring nearly two dozen people, the mine's owners and local media said Sunday.

Grupo Mexico SAB issued a statement urging government authorities to intervene after Saturday's scuffle at the Cananea mine in the northwestern state of Sonora, where strikers tried to block other workers from entering the facility.

"These are violent acts that fall outside the law and have no justification," said Grupo Mexico, a mining and railroad company with operations throughout Mexico, Peru and the United States.

Mexico City newspaper El Universal reported that 20 workers and two striking miners were hurt in the melee, though it was not clear how severe the injuries were.

A spokesman for the National Mining and Metal Workers Union could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Some workers went on strike at Cananea and two other mines owned by Grupo Mexico on July 30, seeking a 10 percent pay raise and improved health and safety conditions.

Grupo Mexico -- which is losing an estimated $3 million a day during the stoppage -- says it has met union demands to remedy safety and health problems.

Cananea has annual capacity of about 154,000 tons of copper concentrate and 55,000 U.S. tons of cathode.

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