ABC reported that the worlds top miners may have shed more than 60% of their value but a global mining analyst insists the minerals super cycle is still in full swing.

Mr Tim Goldsmith head of global mining with PricewaterhouseCoopers said that the general global financial crisis has buried the good news in mining.

Mr Goldsmith said that the rapid industrialization of half the world continues unabated and so will demand for commodities.

He said despite prices for some such as coal, iron ore and base metals dropping, they are coming off almost 5 years of record highs.

Mr Goldsmith said that the main problem faced by miners was equity funding drying up. However renewed confidence in finance markets will soon see more money being invested.

He said that "I think that super cycle is absolutely continuing on. And it didn't actually stop too much even in the dim, dark October, November of last year.

He added that "What's happened though is an unrelated financial crisis in the west, masked a lot of that boom shining through in the last 6 months as we have seen in the last 5 years before then."

(Sourced from ABC.Net)