Keep calm and carry on mining. That has long been the conventional wisdom in the mining industry, a largely cyclical one that has weathered roller-coaster booms and busts. But in the years from 2002 to 2016, an unprecedented steep rise in commodities prices that lasted a decade and then took a sharp turn downward had made it hard for gold and silver miners to stay the course.
“The last 15 years highlighted some of the structural and inherent challenges that our industry has, from product price uncertainty to long lead times to the capital intensity of our business,” said Mitchell Krebs, president and chief executive officer of Coeur Mining, who was the luncheon speaker at the American Exploration & Mining Association’s 122nd Annual Meeting held Dec. 5-9, 2016, in Reno, NV.
