Baowu wants to develop the massive iron mine in Guinea to secure supply of the main raw material.

Spot gold dropped 0.1% after rising to a near one-week high earlier in the day.

Mine closures have grabbed the headlines but the bigger supply disruption has taken place in the copper scrap sector.

The deal could involve Glencore supplying as much as 6,000 tonnes of the metal a year for lithium-ion batteries.