* London copper drops 0.2 pct
* U.S. dollar hovers around 3-week high (Updates prices, recasts throughout)
SINGAPORE, April 2 (Reuters) - Copper eased for a second session on Tuesday on signs that a protest at a Peruvian mine may end, easing supply concerns, and as the U.S. dollar rose.
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 index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.2 percent to over a three-week intraday high. The index climbed 1.7 percent since March 20, when it fell to six-week low.
A rise in the U.S. dollar makes dollar-denominated metal contracts more expensive to import.
However, copper prices had surged in the prior three sessions, including a 1.9 percent jump on Friday.
“We’ve had a couple of very strong days so there’s a certain amount of consolidation,” said Guy Wolf, global head of market analytics at Marex Spectron in Singapore.
The base metals markets rose earlier on Monday with the broader markets after China reported surprisingly positive factory activity data.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dipped 0.2 percent to $6,458.5 a tonne by 0717 GMT, while the most active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was almost unchanged.
* PRICES: Benchmark London zinc dropped 1.2 percent after rising to the highest since June in the previous session, while Shanghai zinc lost 0.4 percent. Other base metals traded in tight range.
* RUSAL: 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.
* GANFENG LITHIUM: 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.
* JERVOIS MINING: Australian cobalt developer Jervois Mining said it would buy out Canada-based Ecobalt Solutions Inc, for C$57.6 million ($43.23 million), to expand its geographical footprint into the United States.
* SUMITOMO COPPER: 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.
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PRICES
Three month LME copper
Most active ShFE copper
Three month LME aluminium
Most active ShFE aluminium
Three month LME zinc
Most active ShFE zinc
Three month LME lead
Most active ShFE lead
Three month LME nickel
Most active ShFE nickel
Three month LME tin
Most active ShFE tin
ARBS ($1 = 1.3323 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by Mai Nguyen; editing by Richard Pullin and Uttaresh.V
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.