This is one of the more classic articles on silver disinformation. I am not quite sure if Suki can even spell silver.

Pinocchio - VHF

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Strike at Bolivia silver mine drags, markets calm

Carlos Quiroga and Claudia Soruco - Reuters

March 31, 2011

* Union continues indefinite strike, talks yet to begin

* Workers ask gov't to intervene in negotiations

* Impact on silver market seen extremely muted - analyst

LA PAZ, March 31 (Reuters) - A nine-day-old strike at Bolivia's largest silver mine continued to halt output and exports on Thursday with no talks in sight, but the dispute was seen having little impact on prices for the precious metal.

Bolivia's San Cristobal is the world's third-largest silver producer and the sixth-largest producer of zinc, according to Japan's Sumitomo Corp (8053.T: Quote), which owns the mine.

Union members are demanding better working conditions and the firing of several company officials as well as improved medical services at the mine's remote location after the death of a miner in early March.

"Nothing has changed. We haven't begun talks yet," a San Cristobal spokesman told Reuters.

San Cristobal, some 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) high in the Andes in Bolivia's central Potosi region, produced some 620,000 kilograms of fine silver in 2009, according to official data.

But Suki Cooper, a precious metals analyst at Barclays Capital, said the mine would have to be shut down for months to have a significant impact on markets.

"Silver remains the precious metal most detached from its fundamentals, and is still in surplus," Cooper said. "If the mine was off line for a year we would then see the first year silver production hasn't hit a record high since 2003."

Silver gained 22 percent in the first quarter, taking the price to 31-year highs above $37.00 an ounce XAG= -- buoyed by global economic growth, geopolitical risk and demand from investors seeking a safe-haven alternative that is cheaper than gold.

Demand has been great from exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which back each security issued with physical stocks of a given commodity.

"If the investment demand slows down, then we believe the mine closure would become more important," Cooper said.

Although the government of leftist President Evo Morales has kept from intervening in the strike, it has asked company managers to promptly resolve the conflict, which costs the state almost $400,000 per day in lost tax and royalty revenue.

Union leader Cesar Lugo said "workers hope the government will intervene to force the company to engage in talks without setting any preconditions."

Lugo said earlier this week the mine still had a "significant quantity" of mineral concentrates stored on site, but he said exports via Chilean ports were paralyzed because strikers were blocking the mine's entrance.

Labor disputes are common in mineral-rich Bolivia, a significant global exporter of zinc, silver, tin and lead.

A strike last year paralyzed several mines for almost three weeks, including San Cristobal and Coeur D'Alene's (CDE.N: Quote) San Bartolome, the world's largest pure silver mine.