By Tatyana Shumsky 
 

NEW YORK--Copper futures advanced to their highest level in more than a month on Tuesday as some investors stocked up on the industrial metal ahead of planned strikes at two major copper mines.

The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, rose 2.90, or 1%, to settle at $3.0930 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was the highest settlement since Sept. 18, when prices closed at $3.0940 a pound.

Union officials at Freeport-McMoRan Inc.'s Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia on Monday said about 10,000 workers will begin a month-long strike to protest unsafe working conditions. Grasberg is the world's third-largest open-pit copper mine and last year produced 928 million pounds of copper.

"Some workers are currently not reporting to work and that's having some constraints on our mining activities in the pit," said Richard Adkerson, President and Chief Executive at Freeport, during the company's earnings conference call earlier on Tuesday. The company is in discussions with the union and 75% to 80% of the workers are still in place, he said.

Meanwhile, workers at Peru's largest copper mine, Antamina, are due to begin a strike on Nov. 10 as part of a push for higher wages.

Combined, the two strikes could remove as much as 70,000 metric tons of monthly copper supply from the market, traders at RBC Capital Markets said in a note to clients. This is about 5% of monthly global supply.

Copper prices also got a boost after U.S. consumer confidence hit its highest level since late 2007. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence rose to 94.5 in October from a revised 89.0 in September, first reported at 86.0.

Copper is widely used in everyday goods like iPhones, refrigerators and cars, and demand for such goods tends to improve when consumers have an optimistic view on the future.

 
Copper settlements (ranges include electronic and pit trading): 
Oct $3.1085; up 3.05 cents; Range $3.0980-$3.1085 
Dec $3.0930; up 2.90 cents; Range $3.0555-$3.0960 
 

Write to Tatyana Shumsky at tatyana.shumsky@wsj.com

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