Copper prices fell on Thursday as inventories of the metal rose, easing supply concerns.

Copper inventories monitored in the London Metal Exchange climbed 1,100 metric tons or 1 percent on Thursday to 110,125 metric tons. According to reports this was the largest gain since the beginning of April.

Copper futures for July delivery dropped for a third straight day 4.65 cents or 1.21 percent to $3.7875 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Easing concerns that supplies may be tight, the 20-day labor strike at Chile's Codelco ended and the company restarted operations on Tuesday after reaching a deal with workers. The Andina and El Teniente mines are opened and El Salvador mine will start operations on Monday.

However a protest in Peru planned by the country's Mining Federation rose concerns that mining will be affected since the country is the third-largest copper producer behind the United States.

The protest will take place next week and about 28,000 miners are represented by the Mining Federation.

Copper futures in the London Metal Exchange fell $92 or 1.07 percent to $8,534 a metric ton today.

Copper