MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's mine union said almost all of the country's mines and metals plants were shut on Monday as workers took part in a one-day national strike in memory of 65 men killed by a coal shaft explosion a year ago.þþCarlos Pavon, a union leader, said 90 percent of unionized operations were closed by the strike.þþ``The miners didn't go to work, they protested with assemblies, religious masses and marches,'' he told Reuters by phone from the Pasta de Conchos mine, the site of the accident.þþAt least three Penoles' (PENOLES.MX) mines were closed, including its Fresnillo silver mine, considered the world's richest deposit. Arcelo Mittal's (MTP.PA) Lazaro Cardenas steel plant was also shut by the strike, Pavon told Reuters.þþMajor copper producer Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) said its operations were almost entirely unaffected by the walkout, with only a few workers not showing at its San Martin zinc mine.þþPenoles' Francisco I. Madero zinc mine, the largest in Mexico, along with the smaller Sabinas zinc mine, were also closed by the national one-day strike called to mark the anniversary of the blast that ripped through Grupo Mexico's Pasta de Conchos mine last year.þþOnly two bodies have been recovered from Pasta de Conchos, near the Texan border, and relatives and workers are angry that no one has been prosecuted for the tragedy.þþGrupo Mexico, one of Latin America's biggest miners, says the blast was an unfortunate accident and has compensated victims' families, spending $30 million on trying to find the 63 remaining miners.þþMiners walked off the job in pits across 10 states, including 7,000 miners and smelter workers in the northern state of Coahuila, where the disaster happened last year, Mexico's national mine union said.þþBut a union leadership conflict meant not all workers across Mexico laid down tools. The union is split into two factions, one of which supports an ousted leader accused of corruption. That faction called the commemorative strike.þþPenoles spokesman Luis Rey Delgado said workers loyal to the ousted union leader stopped colleagues from entering Fresnillo, which produced 33.9 million ounces of silver contents in 2005, the latest figures released by the company.þþ``The plant is not working today,'' he said. ``But the union has promised in one way or another to make up this day.''þþDelgado said workers had staged a symbolic stoppage at its Metmex refinery, without affecting production.þþMexican copper miner Grupo Mexico said all its units, including the mammoth Cananea copper mine, were working normally.þþA Grupo Mexico spokesman said some workers had not showed up at its San Martin zinc mine, but production had not been affected so far.þþ
Source: NY Times
