Copper prices fell in early Asian trading on Friday after MMG Ltd's Las Bambas mine in Peru said it would resume operations that had been halted due to a road blockade.
The overall mood in the base metals markets, however, was mixed on the last trading session of the year, with prices in London lower across the board, while the benchmarks in top metals consumer China were mostly higher.
Still, base metals remained on track to end firmer this year after China staged an economic rebound and on lingering concerns over supply.
Fundamentals
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.6% at $9,630 a tonne by 0241 GMT, while the most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.2% to 69,890 yuan ($10,965.20) a tonne.
Las Bambas mine in Peru, the world's No. 2 copper producer, on Thursday said it would restart operations after reaching a deal with a Peruvian community that blocked a key transport road for a month, with the process expected to take up to six days.
Chile's state-controlled Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, has successfully concluded its sales plan for 2022 in Southeast Asia with the signing of multi-year deals.
China's factory activity unexpectedly accelerated in December, but only by a small margin, according to an official survey released on Friday, amid disruptions from COVID-19 outbreaks and as the broader economy loses momentum in the fourth quarter.
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