Iron ore price soars to 9-month high on China stimulus anticipation

Miner started laying off more than 100 workers at its Iron Bridge project in the Pilbara region, according to local media.

Beijing authorities are urging trading companies that store iron ore in big volumes at ports to sell some of their material.

The downstream steel demand has been continuously recovering, said a senior analyst at Mysteel.

BHP last month reported a steeper-than-expected 32% fall in first-half profit.

Commodities from copper to iron ore fell after China set a cautious economic growth target of about 5% for the year.

"Some market participants with long positions liquidated their positions today to lock profits," analyst says.

Mills are ramping up production but their iron ore inventories are relatively low, supporting iron ore prices.

Australia and Brazil are among possible sites.

The company has started extracting scrap that had been dumped at a tailings dam at Carajas in northern Brazil since 1985.