Above is an interesting short discussion from Financial Review Sunday with Bell Potter’s Charlie Aitken and the AFR’s Michael Stutchbury on the faster than expected unwinding of Australia’s mining investment boom, following last week’s profit downgrades by mining services companies – Coffey International, Worley Parsons, and UGL – as well as announcements by BHP and RIO that they would pull back mining capital expenditure.
I have to take exception to Aitken’s claim that the mining boom is coming off more quickly than expected. The writing has been on the wall for mining services for at least six months. China’s adjustment has been obvious for much longer than that. This is a bit of reputational repair for an overly bullish mining prognosticator.
