Copper climbed more than 1% on the London Metal Exchange as copper mines in Chile were impacted by workers joining anti-government protests.
Zinc-focused Callinex Mines (TSXV: CNX) jumped 38.4% or C20c to 72c on announcing it had started its 2019 Bathurst drilling campaign in New Brunswick at the Nash Creek and Superjack projects, where it's hoping to show "district-scale potential" and enhance the economics from last year's PEA.
Toronto's S&P/TSX Composite Index closed lower but its metals and mining sector finished in positive territory.
Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM) rose 3.7% but remains down 25.7% year-to-date.
In Australian trade, gold equities were lower on the S&P/ASX200 but diversified miners were higher, with BHP (ASX: BHP) up about 1%.
Nickel producer Western Areas (ASX: WSA) hit a one-year high intraday of A$3.40 following yesterday's strong quarterly results.
It was up about 3% at the time of writing, a 67% rise so far this year.
Finally, market futures were mixed and the gold price was worth just over US$1,492 an ounce on the spot market.