Mexican police crack union skulls at Cananea Mine. More copper supply by end of year.

Reuters reports today that Mexican federal police broke up the cordon around the Cananea mine.

Grupo Mexico retook control of Mexico's biggest copper mine after hundreds of federal police dislodged protesting workers on strike for nearly three years, the government and the company said on Monday.  Hundreds of police backed by helicopters arrived Sunday evening, surprising miners guarding the entrance. A company source said the Cananea mine, which once produced 40 percent of Mexico's copper but has been closed since July 2007, could be running again as soon as the end of this year.

Grupo Mexico hopes to get the mine back up to full production (estimated at 160k tons) by the end of the year.