Launch

In the course of scanning mining-related news articles as part of my research at Factiva, I came across a particularly attention-grabbing lede from the Economist, dated Feb. 7 of this year:

EVERYTHING to do with mining is impressively vast. It is an industry that makes huge holes in the ground and relies on trucks with tyres the size of houses. In recent years, thanks to China's rapid industrialisation and its voracious appetite for metals, mining companies have also produced mammoth profits, boasted gigantic valuations and undergone a series of outsized mergers and acquisitions.

I was struck by the passage because I found its concise assessment of today's mining industry radically different from what it was just five years ago. When I started at Factiva, mining was a scarcely-mentioned topic in the mainstream press (albeit a simmering one, due to China's already apparent rise as a major resource consumer); now, it is at the forefront of attention in newspapers around the world.

As I observed the rapid evolution of the industry in the last couple of years, due in large part to major consolidation and the Middle Kingdom's dizzying rise, I started thinking about creating this weblog; it was this run-of-mill article, however, that prompted me to finally launch this site, which I hope to maintain as a record of this dynamic sector's rapid ascent amidst a global scramble to secure natural resources.

> Some miner concerns [Economist]