2016 will go down as an extraordinary year for the mining sector believes Jeremy Wrathall, one of Investec’s team of analysts for the sector.
The scale of the turnaround took everyone by surprise, he says, and while the election of Donald Trump as US president was a catalyst near the end of the year, equally as important was China’s actions.
WATCH: Investec's Wrathall on an 'extraordinary' 12 months for miners
Widespread economic stimulus measures plus other expected moves, such as to restrict Chinese coal output, had a huge impact.
Glencore PLC ( LON:Glen) and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) were the stand out recovery stories adding 280% each at the time of writing, though Wrathall points out in Glencore’s case the shares are only now back to the June 2015 level.
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have been a tad cautious over prospects but the fact is that the industry is in a much better place than an year ago even if does turn down.
And if Trump does start to rebuild infrastructure it will have a major impact on commodities, says Wrathall.
Another bullish factor will be again be China, which if it only grows by 6%, that will be on a much bigger base than last year.