Japan's iron ore purchases from Australia and Brazil remained weak in April despite a slight recovery in overall iron ore imports during the month.

ANSA reported that a court has sentenced brothers Mr Fabio Riva and Mr Nicola Riva to 22 and 20 years in jail respectively for the environmental disaster caused by the ILVA steelworks in the southern city of Taranto.

"Regulators pay a lot of attention to the local environment, but not to the net benefits to the climate," said Anna Borg, chief executive of Swedish utility Vattenfall.

Democratic Republic of Congo has authorised exports of copper.

Australian copper miner 29Metals and its shareholders are seeking to raise as much as A$609.1-million ($471-million) in an initial public offering (IPO) in Sydney.

China will strengthen management of both supply and demand sides to curb "unreasonable" increases in commodity prices.

Asia's iron-ore futures tumbled on Monday, leading another bout of selling in the metals complex, after China's state planner warned against commodity price manipulation and vowed to clamp down on speculative trading.

JSE-listed openpit miner Afrimat’s diversification strategy, along with a particularly strong iron-ore price.