"China means business with more weekend meetings attended by various agencies and especially the NDRC which states it will ‘severely punish' anyone in our markets for ‘spreading of fake information, price speculation and hoarding'," Marex Spectron's Alastair Munro said.
The MySteel Australian 62% fines fell 2.85% to $204.50/t.
However base metals were mixed on the London Metal Exchange.
Gold was lower than this point yesterday, around $1,873 an ounce on the spot market.
Canadian markets were closed yesterday for Victoria Day.
Among the mining majors, precious metals producer Fresnillo and copper miner Antofagasta lost 1.6% and 0.9% in London respectively.
In a more upbeat session in New York, Freeport-McMoRan rose 1.76% and Newmont gained 0.76%.
Finally, BHP was up 0.9% in midday Australian trade.