article from the australian

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25369296-15023,00.html

SHAREHOLDERS in zinc miner Perilya have had a bit of a rough ride over the past year, moving between a 52-week low of 8c and a 52-week high of $1.15 (the stock is at 26c this morning).

But the company that came to Perilya's rescue and now holds a 50.1 per cent stake, Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet , has had a much better year: its stock on the Shenzhen exchange is up 181 per cent on their 52-week low.

In fact, Shenzhen Zhongjin is the 17th best performing of the world’s mining majors over the past year. We are indebted to well-known South African mining writer Barry Sergeant for compiling a list of the 100 companies in terms of their share market performances over the past year.

By far, the Chinese mining companies have performed the best in stock market terms. Thirteen of the top 20 are Chinese-owned.

Number 1 company in performance terms was Fresnillo, a Mexican company that is the world’s largest primary silver producer and Mexico’s second largest gold producer. Its stock got as high as 357 per cent over its 52-week low. It adds a bit of oomph to the precious metals story, doesn’t it?

In second place was Sichuan Hongda, China’s third largest zinc producer - and who said there wasn’t money in zinc? It rose 335 per cent above its lows. Another precious metals company, Iamgold Corp of Canada, was third best performer followed by Chinese nickel producer Ji Lin Ji En.

The top Australian performer among the majors was Energy Resources of Australia , up 127 per cent. It came in at 29th position.

Then followed Lihir Gold at 52nd, Newcrest Mining at 61st, Fortescue Metals Group at 66th, New Hope Corp at 81st and Coal & Allied trailing at 92nd.

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton - they’re only partly Australian - were placed 53rd and 64th respectively. They are a great deal bigger than many of the others on the list, but their share performance (and in Rio's case, management performance) has not been too flash.

Sergeant makes the point that the Chinese companies are benefiting from their government’s stimulus package. What he doesn’t mention is the comparison with Australia where - at least so far - the mining sector has been left to its own devices by the Federal Government while car makers, car dealers and commercial property owners have been rescued.

The report does not, of course, include all the juniors in Australia, some of which have shown good gains in recent months (although most haven’t).

But what it does illustrate is just how thin our top tier mining sector really is, and the extent to which Australia has become a bit player in corporate terms within the global mining industry.

And that the ASX is not the happiest of hunting grounds for mining profits.