Aluminium on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 2.3 percent to close at 14,050 yuan ($2,042) a tonne on Thursday. Tracking gains in its London counterpart, the most-traded March copper contract in Shanghai rose 1.7 percent to 47,650 yuan a tonne.
Unionised workers at BHP Billiton-run Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine, said they rejected the company's latest wage offer and asked workers to vote for a strike and prepare for an extended conflict.