The price of iron ore is hovering around fresh five-year lows and is edging closer to $US60 a tonne as fears over the medium-term outlook for supply and demand of the commodity continue to weigh on investors.

At the end of the latest offshore session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US61.40 a tonne, down 1 per cent from its previous close of $US62.90 a tonne. The current price is only slightly above the five-and-a-half-year low of $US61.30 a tonne, hit earlier this week.

The price of the commodity rose 1.1 per cent in the previous session, lifting for the first time in 11 sessions, however the spike seems to have been short lived.

At current prices most mid-tier and junior miners are seen to be operating in, or near, the red, though heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto remain comfortably in the black due to low operating costs.

Little respite is tipped in the coming 12-24 months as most analysts now forecast an average price of about $US60-$US65 a tonne for both 2015 and 2016.