The red metal, which is better known as an industrial barometer rose last night after it became clear that the workers at Chile’s Escondida mine operated by BHP Billiton rejected the management offer and decided to continue their strikes. The outcome of the vote was largely expected since the leaders of the union scrapped the offer of $12,000 as absurd and recommended to its workers to reject the offer.

Escondida mine is one of the largest operating copper mines that produces 1.15 million tons of copper per year, which is about 6 percent of total global production. Last time such a situation occurred was four years’ back when after two weeks of strike workers were offered a bonus of $49,000.

According to the Union, the workers are going into strikes within the next 48 hours and that means the haggling over bonuses would continue and the price of copper would continue to feel the heat. The red metal is currently trading at $2.73 per pound.