The world’s top 40 miners incurred a record collective loss of $27-billion in 2015, with market capitalisation down 37%, effectively wiping out all the gains made during the commodity supercycle. Advisory firm PwC pointed out in its yearly mine report, titled ‘Mine 2016: Slower, lower, weaker . . . but not defeated’ and released on Thursday, that the end of the boom in China, along with the subsequent crash in commodity prices, left miners in a “race to the bottom”.
