Report predicts further declines in exploration activity this year

For the global mining industry, 2015 was a challenging year and early indications suggest that 2016 is unlikely to reveal the light at the end of the tunnel for the sector, states professional services firm SNL Metals & Mining. The firm notes that with depressed metals prices, production exceeding demand for most metals, high levels of international political turmoil and a slowing Chinese economy, investors are understandably wary of the mining industry and indeed of markets in general.