* Potential restart of Indonesian mine could drag on prices * China willing to tolerate slower growth * Coming up: U.S. Midwest manufacturing index at 1230 GMT By Silvia Antonioli LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - Copper was little changed on Tuesday, as a stronger dollar and concerns over demand from top consumer China weighed but the European Central Bank reaffirming its intention to stick to a loose monetary policy lent some support. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was at $7,295 a tonne by 0949 GMT, little changed from Friday's close. LME copper was mostly steady last week, but looks set to end the month with gains of more than 3 percent, its first monthly advance since January. "We expect copper to continue moving around current levels as dips will attract consumer buying so the downside should be pretty limited. But the upside is also limited as caution over growth out of China will prompt some selling at higher prices," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said. "Comments from Chinese officials have also been accentuating expectations of slower growth." Raising investors concern, China's factory activity shrank for the first time in seven months in May, data showed last week, reigniting worries over stuttering growth there. An official report is due on June 1. Comments from officials on Monday also signalled that the country, which accounts for around 40 percent of refined copper demand, is willing to tolerate slower growth. A stronger dollar against a basket of currencies was also weighing on dollar-priced commodities such as metals. Helping to firm sentiment though, the ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said on Monday the bank will stick to its expansive monetary policy for as long as necessary. The comments fuelled gains in European equities, and helped metals prices, but analysts expected the recovery to prove short-lived. "I'm relatively bearish and trading that theme to clients," said Tim Radford at Sydney-based adviser Rivkin. "Given the stream of weak macro data, especially out of the Asian region, and weakness across the Chinese economy, we expect that will flow on to copper markets." In supply news, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Indonesian unit should be able to restart open-pit mining operations at its remote Papua copper mine soon, a junior mining minister said, after a tunnel collapse that killed 28 people. A resumption of mining operations, which have been suspended since May 15 at the giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia, could erode support for copper prices, analysts said. Metal Prices at 1008 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2012 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 3.31 0.02 +0.50 365.25 -99.09 LME Alum 1843.50 3.50 +0.19 2073.00 -11.07 LME Cu 7306.25 7.25 +0.10 7931.00 -7.88 LME Lead 2100.25 31.25 +1.51 2330.00 -9.86 LME Nickel 14779.00 -46.00 -0.31 17060.00 -13.37 LME Tin 21061.00 11.00 +0.05 23400.00 -10.00 LME Zinc 1859.25 3.75 +0.20 2080.00 -10.61 SHFE Alu 14620.00 0.00 +0.00 15435.00 -5.28 SHFE Cu* 52900.00 300.00 +0.57 57690.00 -8.30 SHFE Zin 14510.00 15.00 +0.10 15625.00 -7.14 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

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