SINGAPORE: Copper and most other base metals fell on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar edged higher and as supply concerns from a copper mine in Peru eased slightly.
The Peruvian government offered a deal to indigenous protesters to lift their blockade at the Las Bambas copper mine owned by China's MMG Ltd, but a decision is pending agreement among the indigenous community.
Indigenous protesters have blocked roads to the mine since early February, demanding compensation from MMG for using a stretch of road on their farmland. Las Bambas produces about 2 percent of global copper output.
The dollar hit a two-week high against the yen, as ebbing concerns about the global economy pushed U.S. bond yields up from 15-month troughs.
A rise in the U.S. dollar makes dollar-denominated metal contracts more expensive to import.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dipped 0.1 percent to $6,467.5 a tonne by 0131 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.1 percent to 49,240 yuan ($7,338.08) a tonne.
* Benchmark aluminium fell 0.1 percent while Shanghai aluminium lost 0.3 percent, while zinc, lead and tin contracts on both exchanges also decreased. Nickel bucked the trend, rising 0.3 percent in London and 0.5 percent in Shanghai.
* Russian aluminium giant Rusal has resumed supplies to the U.S. market and aims to win back customers it lost due to sanctions by about September when the industry seals supply contracts for 2020, its chief executive said.
* China's Ganfeng Lithium Co said on Monday it would spend $160 million to boost its ownership stake in an Argentina lithium project with Lithium Americas Corp, part of a plan to solidify its access to the white metal used to make electric vehicle batteries.
* Australian cobalt developer Jervois Mining said it would buy out Canada-based Ecobalt Solutions Inc, for C$57.6 million ($43.3 million), to expand its geographical footprint into the United States.
* Japan's second-largest copper smelter, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd, said it planned to produce 420,000 tonnes of refined copper in the 2019/20 financial year that started this month, down 7.7 percent from a year earlier.
* Steel consumption in the Philippines is likely to rise by 5-6 percent this year to a record 11.1 million tonnes as the country's economy continues to grow, the head of an industry group told Reuters on Monday.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asia shares extended their rally as factory activity surveys from China and the United States boosted investor confidence, triggering the largest one-day sell-off in the U.S. Treasury market in nearly three months.
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