Miners, minnows short of equity as commodities cycle resists upturn

Hard-pressed producer government treasuries, operators and investors across the natural resources industries have one big question in common: has the global downturn in prices that followed the long mega-cycle as hard and soft commodities boomed before the global financial crisis reached its bottom-most point? An upturn would signal hope for the many smaller companies listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and similar stock exchanges that their anaemic share prices might start to recover – or that bigger companies feel sufficiently confident to buy them out and develop their assets.