I took this section form Janus Henderson Natural Resources Funds...

I took this section form Janus Henderson Natural Resources Funds commentary on outlook.

At the start of the year in Feb-March we wrote about how the market was very reluctant to get
interested in natural resources despite sound fundamentals and prospects. With much neglect
we felt that the prevailing haze and malaise would come to a crossroads and saw gold as a
particularly strong driver.

By April we felt some validation, with many significant developments,
and wrote about how we thought a more prolonged strong market may have started, seeing
particularly notable moves in gold, copper, silver and persistent uranium strength.
This solid commodity action has been dampened somewhat in recent months. However, the
commodities story remains in place despite the price weakness. We observed copper moving to
US$5.00/lb in June and now back to US$4.00/lb reflecting some nervousness on China’s growth
outlook. We continue to expect to see copper move well above recent highs reflecting a scarcity
in supply.

Major miners continue to place their bets. Most recently we saw BHP combine with Lundin
Mining to make a C$4.3bn bid for Filo Corp. This comes hard on the heels of some of the
largest resource company merger deals of all time. BHP approached Anglo American in a
US$42bn deal (for their long-term copper assets). Conoco is buying Marathon for US$23bn.
Suzano attempted to buy International Paper (US$19bn), and International Paper are buying DS
Smith (US$8bn). Alcoa are buying Alumina (US$2.6bn, after 30 years). These follow the very
large moves by Exxon buying Pioneer for US$68bn, Chevron trying to buy Hess for US$59bn,
Glencore tried to buy Teck (US$27bn) and emerged to buy the Coking coal assets, and
Newmont bought Newcrest (US$19bn).

The preparation for the next big cycle is well underway,
and many deals are expected in the next few years.

All IMVHO.