Cape Town: Anglo American, which has an 85 percent stake in De Beers, said the past year brought some reprieve for the global mining industry.

Group chief executive Mark Cutifani told the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa that while market watchers were ready to sound a death knell on mining’s prospects, the industry had survived.

“We are still here: stronger than we were before, despite the continuing ebb and flow of sentiment and prices,” he said.

Cutifani said while the worst for the industry may be passing, tough and uncertain times continue to lie ahead. “Of course we are not out of the woods yet. We still have a lot of work to do to regain broad stakeholder confidence in the global mining industry,” he said.

“…the steep price declines in 2014 and 2015, China’s growth slowdown, and the increased volatility of commodity pricing, no longer necessarily driven by supply and demand fundamentals, should be seen as the ‘new normal’ for mining.

“That is why resilience is so important. You must be able to manage your own position and not have to rely on others to help you survive and prosper. We have to be leaner, we have to be hungry and we have to keep evolving quicker than our competitors.”