The industrial demand for commodities has resulted in declining inventories and sharply rising prices for practically all minerals and metals. To satisfy this demand mining houses are committing billions of dollars to exploration, mine development and the construction of process plants.
In the long term, prices are likely to moderate, but in 2011 and beyond they are still expected by most analysts to be almost twice as high as in 2001, before the current SuperCycle commenced.
This is high enough to drive further capital investment for years to come!