(Bloomberg) -- Zinc fell amid growing concerns over steel demand in China, and as Glencore Plc restarted mining the metal in Australia.

Prices dropped as much as 2.2% to a three-week low on the London Metal Exchange Tuesday, tracking losses seen in iron ore as the absence of strong policy signals from Beijing fueled uncertainty on whether construction activity will pick up. Zinc is mostly commonly used for the galvanization of steel or iron.  

“Zinc is the metal most impacted by the poor downstream demand on iron ore,” Marex Group analyst Al Munro said. 

Zinc futures also fell as Glencore announced it would return to normal operations at the MacArthur River zinc mine, which closed earlier this month after a cyclone hit the region. 

The metal traded down about 2% to $2,442 a ton as of 4:56 p.m. London time. Nickel, another key steelmaking ingredient, also fell.

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