** Shares of copper miners fall, tracking prices of the red metal

** Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange down 1.4% at $12,673 per metric ton

** Copper prices fall as a stronger dollar and rising inventories in London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses pressured the market, which was operating with thin trading volumes due to the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday MET/

** Global mining giant Rio Tinto RIO.N down 3.1%

** Southern Copper SCCO.N drops ~6%; Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N falls 4.4%

** Canada's Teck Resources TECKb.TO down 3%, Hudbay Minerals HBM.TO plunges 6.1% and Ero Copper ERO.TO dips 5.5%

(Reporting by Dharna Bafna in Bengaluru)

((Dharna.bafna@thomsonreuters.com))