What’s been called “the most rapid switch from boom to bust in mining history” is dragging down some of the world’s most powerful mining companies, markedly compromising the operations of many junior outfits, and jeopardising numerous mining “developments.” This may provide hope to many who’ve been campaigning for an end to dubious or unacceptably damaging projects. However the attrition is being felt, in the first instance and most severely, by low-paid workers at the frontline – whether it be at the diggings, employed at smelters, or labouring on the shop floor of those industrial sectors dependent on sales of metals-based products (notably automobiles).
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=9050