The global mining sector has evolved significantly over the past decade. The industry has transformed itself from being relatively unproductive, capital intensive and highly leveraged, to one that it cash conscious with improved balance sheets and a focus on cash returns over production growth.
Almost all of this transition has come from necessity. Following the post-crisis boom in commodity prices, which allowed miners to justify spending tens of billions of dollars chasing vanity projects, commodity prices have since declined and miners, under pressure from investors have slashed costs and cut capex.
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The industry’s changes...

