China props up dictators and blocks sanctions in Africa. Is there a good side?
Andrew Leonard Mar. 22, 2006 | You might think, in the midst of one of the biggest sustained worldwide booms in commodity prices in memory, that these days mining company executives would be a fat and happy crew. China’s appetite for raw materials has sent prices of all kinds of precious metals sky-high. And in these peak-everything days, the prospect of a commodity collapse seems dim, barring a sudden detour into global recession. But three weeks ago I read a report by a global consulting and research firm warning the “mining community” that it had better get its act together. Because if they don’t watch out, declared the Frontier Strategy Group, Chinese companies were going to eat their lunch. Aggressively cutting deals from Argentina to Zimbabwe, and operating with the full support of their government’s diplomatic apparatus, Chinese mining firms are on a worldwide blitzkrieg. Rich-nation mining companies had better take heed: “The mining industry is undergoing a major transformation
