Gold miners Northern Star Resources (AU:NST), Saracen Mineral Holdings (AU:SAR), Regis Resources (AU:RRL) and Resolute Mining (AU:RSG) were all sold down as the gold price back-tracked from last week's jump, trading around US$1,347 per ounce on the spot market earlier.

Mineral sands miner Iluka Resources (AU:ILU) was up more than 5% as it unveiled production volumes 22% higher than in 2016 and a continuing positive outlook for market conditions in the sector.

Lithium producer Orocobre (AU:ORE) rose a similar amount to remain near a 52-week high as lithium investors continue to overcome last week's jitters.

Diversified miner South32 also remained near a 52-week high with a gain of almost 4% on no news.

In Toronto, the TSX metals and mining sector had closed higher on Friday with Kinross Gold (CN:K) gaining 0.9% but Barrick Gold (CN:ABX) experiencing a slight drop of 0.38%.

At the smaller end of town, Coro Mining Corp (CN:COP) gained 12.5% to C13.5c - it last week agreed to acquire claims next to its Marimaca copper-gold development project in Chile.

Silver Bear Resources (CN:SBR), which is aiming to achieve first silver production at its Mangazeisky silver project in Russia this quarter, gained more than 11% to 30c.