Three years ago the words “care and maintenance” were alien in the mining sector, something unheard of, something never expected to be heard, as commodities were commanding high prices on the market. That was until things went belly up.
Now, with the buyers avoiding commodities as if they were a plague, most mining companies have been placed in the equivalent of what in hospitals are called the intensive care unit, in mining parlance. For laypeople like you and me, they are called Care and Maintenance.
From observing trends of events, some distressed companies could be just postponing the inevitable, as it is evident that at some point they might have to either cease operations or find risk-averse wiling buyers. Is a turnaround around the corner, as analysts want us to believe?
