Chile's second biggest mining association, Sonami, expects the average price of copper to rise by up to 19 percent next year, which might encourage the continuation of more copper projects in the South American nation, its president told Reuters on Monday.

The average copper price may rise to $2.50 per lb in 2010 from an average of $2.10 to $2.30 this year, Sonami's Alfredo Ovalle said in an interview at a forum in Santiago.

Copper prices have recovered in the past six months. Output in Chile, the world's biggest copper producer, is forecast to rise 5 percent to 6 percent in 2010 from expected production of 5.4 million tonnes of copper this year, Ovalle said.

"We believe prices will go up a bit in 2010, not exaggeratedly, because some projects will start operations," he said. "Our prudent estimate is one at $2.50 per pound.""Mining is the exception to the rule in this crisis.

Furthermore, we see more light at the end of the tunnel than some analysts do," he added.

Commodity prices plummeted as the global credit crisis intensified in September last year.

Sonami's Ovalle said the current price range of copper in global markets is helping keep firms profitable and making new projects feasible.

Chinese demand for the metal remains stable, he said.

The group is eyeing the outcome of labor negotiations at copper mines and is concerned about possible strikes, whose impact would have "devastating" consequences in the economy, Ovalle said.

Ovalle said seven labor negotiations are taking place, "which we are analyzing attentively, hoping that managers and union leaders will take into account that we are going through a difficult moment."

This week, workers at BHP Billiton's Spence mine will vote on a strike, and many see the outcome as a sign of how future labor talks will develop. Workers at Spence have already dubbed BHP's offer as "very bad."

Talks should also occur in coming weeks at some units of Codelco, the state-run copper company, and in BHP's Escondida mine, the largest in the world.

U.S. copper futures HGZ9 dipped to a 5-1/2-week low below $2.70 a lb Monday morning, under pressure from a steadier dollar, rising inventory levels, and worries about waning demand growth in China, the world's top copper consumer.