Miners unearth a profit bonanza

Improved market: Workers remove the cloth covering the iron ore from Australia while they prepare for transporting at a port in Tianjin municipality. Everything from coal to iron ore to zinc soared in 2016, rebounding from multi-year lows as output cuts and stronger demand trimmed surpluses. — Reuters

MELBOURNE: Miners had been digging in one of Australia’s oldest collieries for almost a century until operations wound down a year ago, the victim of plunging global commodity prices. Now owner Glencore Plc is resuming output at the Queensland site, the latest sign of a profit bonanza bringing the world’s top metals and energy producers back from the brink.

Everything from coal to iron ore to zinc soared in 2016, rebounding from multi-year lows as output cuts and stronger demand trimmed surpluses. The rallies erased losses that sent the industry reeling from 2015. The biggest companies – BHP Billiton Ltd, Rio Tinto Group, Vale SA and Glencore – may earn a combined US$26bil in the six months through December, a two-year high and 40% more than the first half, forecasts compiled by Bloomberg show.