Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd. will try to hire replacements for workers in Chile who walked off the job more than two weeks ago at Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine.

The strike that began Aug. 7 over wages and bonus payments has cut production at Escondida to 40 percent to 50 percent of capacity, company spokeswoman Alejandra Wood said in a phone interview from Santiago. Melbourne-based BHP, the world's biggest mining company, has informed Chile's Labor Ministry that it will seek replacement workers, she said.

``We're not planning to meet with the workers,'' Wood said. ``We regret that we've gotten to this point.''

More than 98 percent of workers rejected a BHP offer in a vote late yesterday. Prices for copper, Chile's top export, have quintupled in the past four years on surging demand from China, prompting workers to seek a bigger share of mining profits.

Union members held out hopes that the company would agree to restart negotiations today. Workers met at an athletic center at the mine to await further word from government mediators, union treasurer Pedro Fornazzari said today.

``We have a promise with the company to continue the dialogue,'' union spokesman Pedro Marin said today in a phone interview from Antofagasta, Chile.

Copper Price

Copper for delivery in December fell 1.15 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $3.478 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, partly on concern output at Escondida may rise once replacement workers are hired. The metal touched a record $4.04 a pound on May 11.

Escondida accounted for 8.5 percent of all mined copper worldwide last year. Mine executives Aug. 16 said the dispute was costing owners, including BHP, London-based Rio Tinto Group and Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. $16 million in profit a day. BHP temporarily shut the mine on Aug. 18 after workers blocked all roads to the site.

The company's shares rose 1.4 percent to A$28.75.

Chilean law allows workers to break ranks with union leaders and negotiate directly with the company on the 15th day of a strike. Union director Alejandro Villar said today he didn't know of any workers talking to BHP yet.

The Escondida union, which represents 94 percent of the mine's employees, is seeking a wage increase of 10 percentage points above inflation and a bonus of 16 million pesos ($30,084) per worker for a 36-month contract. BHP's latest offer was for an increase of 4 percentage points above inflation, and a bonus of 9.5 million pesos for a 36-month contract.

Workers would get an extra 1.3 percentage point raise in the fourth year and a total bonus of 13 million pesos for a 48- month contract.

The company may report earnings of $10.7 billion on Aug. 23, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Walter in Santiago at mwalter4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 22, 2006 14:20 EDT