HANOI, May 17 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on Monday as worries over supply from top producer Chile mounted after workers at two mines rejected a contract offer from the company and threats of a strike loomed.
A union representing workers at BHP's Escondida and Spence mines in Chile rejected the company's contract offer, raising the risk of a strike at the two sprawling copper deposits, the union's president said on Friday.
Chilean law allows either party to now request a five-day government mediation period, extendable for an additional five days, ahead of any eventual strike. BHP told Reuters it believed the two parties could still reach an agreement.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange advanced 0.7% to $10,316 a tonne by 0254 GMT, while the most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.2% to 74,950 yuan ($11,639.46) a tonne.
FUNDAMENTALS
* China Hongqiao Group , the world's top private sector aluminium producer, plans to move more smelting capacity from its base in industrial Shandong to the hydropower-rich province of Yunnan, two sources said.
* Yangshan copper premium fell to $37 a tonne, its lowest since February 2016, indicating weak demand for imported metal into China.
* LME aluminium rose 1.2% to $2,492 a tonne, while ShFE aluminium climbed 2% to 19,810 yuan a tonne. ShFE nickel jumped 2.3% to 131,200 yuan a tonne and LME nickel increased 1.1% to $17,730 a tonne.
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* Asian share markets turned mixed as data on Chinese retail sales missed expectations though industrial output stayed solid, while more evidence of global inflation pressures helped gold to a three-month peak.
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