Business Week reported that police have seized control of Mexico's largest copper mine to end a 3 year strike that paralyzed operations while union leaders demanded safer working conditions.

It is unclear whether operations will resume at the Cananea mine owned by Grupo Mexico SAB and located just south of the Arizona border.

The company previously estimated that it lost USD 3 million per day during the stoppage that began on July 30th 2007. More than 1,000 workers joined the strike but only about a couple dozen remained when authorities removed them on Sunday. None of the protesters resisted.

Mr Julio Pomar spokesman of mining union said that leaders are debating their next step. The strike was a response to the deaths of 65 miners in February 2006 after an underground explosion in a coal mine also owned by Grupo Mexico, a mining and railroad company with operations in Mexico, Peru and the United States.

In recent years, Grupo Mexico and government officials suggested the strike had become a symbol of support for mining union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who moved to Canada after being accused of misappropriating USD 55 million.

(Sourced from www.businessweek.com)