"Most miners are going to be making very good cash, and better cash than they have been making for years," UBS commodities analyst Daniel Morgan told AFP. "Their cost bases are lower and in many cases they are back to sustaining capex (capital expenditure) rather than growing capex. Copper prices have also rallied, with a strike at BHP's Escondida mine in Chile — the world's biggest copper pit — also providing support. "Demand was persistently better than what was expected, led by those two subsectors, for much of the year," Driscoll told AFP. The November election of President Donald Trump, who has touted massive infrastructure spending, and the Indian government's vow to fund the modernization of roads, airports and railways also boosted sentiment.

Source: The China Post February 26, 2017 16:09 UTC