Base metals except aluminium closed higher on the London Metal Exchange yesterday.
The iron ore price has headed back up towards the US$70 per tonne mark in the wake of China also announcing a further crackdown on pollution and excess steelmaking capacity.
Western Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) was up more than 2.4% at the time of writing.
The company had yesterday told the Diggers & Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie it was on a pathway to developing a plus-60% iron content product.
Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) closed up 0.99% in London yesterday where the FTSE100 metals and mining stocks closed 2.27% higher.
However traders returned to Toronto on Tuesday after a long weekend without enthusiasm for mining and metals stocks, which closed down 2.04% on the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
The gold sector lost 2.41% overall and Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) finished 2.29% lower.
The spot gold price is a little higher than this time yesterday and was earlier trading at US$1,213 an ounce.
