China's appetite for overseas metal seems to be fading, with Yangshan copper import premiums falling to $28.50 a tonne, the lowest since at least 2012.
The lawsuit related to BHP's Escondida copper mine, the world's biggest, and the agreement involves the payment of compensation for environmental damage due to overdrawing water from the Punta Negra salt flat.
Mexico is home to large potential reserves of lithium but most of it is in hard-to-tap clay deposits that are costly and technically difficult to mine.