Copper prices crept higher on Tuesday on continued mine disruptions, but held below 16-month highs hit in the previous session on a stronger dollar.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.3% at $10,684 per metric ton by 0940 GMT, having hit its highest since May 2024 on Monday at $10,800.

LME copper has climbed 21% so far this year, pushed higher in recent weeks by mine problems in Chile, Congo and Indonesia.

Operations at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, one of the world's biggest copper mines, have been halted for nearly a month after a mud-flow disaster killed seven workers.

There have also been disruptions at Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the El Teniente mine in Chile.

"The disruptions are obviously huge so I thought copper would rise more quickly than it has done, but the dollar's getting a bit stronger," said Dan Smith, managing director at Commodity Market Analytics.

"One headwind, which possibly explains why we're not doing a bit better, is we've had a slowdown in terms of electric vehicle sales in quite a few places."

EV sales growth in China, the world's biggest metals consumer, averaged 36% a month in the first half of the year, but cooled to 6% in August.

LME copper was approaching a key level of resistance from $10,750 to just under $11,000, where it has failed to break through three previous times, in May 2021, March 2022 and May 2024, Smith added.

"If we fall back from here, it's quite bearish from a technical perspective."

Also keeping gains in check, the dollar index benefitted from a weaker euro and yen. A stronger dollar makes greenback-denominated assets more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Among other metals, LME aluminium dipped 0.2% to $2,719.50 a ton, nickel was little changed at $15,480, lead slipped 0.1% to $2,003.50, tin lost 0.7% to $36,555, while zinc added 0.3% to $3,015.

Chinese markets are closed from October 1 to 8 for the Golden Week holiday.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Additional reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate Mayberry)