THE ASX 200 is suffering from a mining downturn hangover that has left it lagging behind a rally in global markets from Germany to Japan.

This is the human story behind the headlines as Pilbara miners slash costs and shed staff in a desperate bid to remain profitable as iron ore prices collapse.

Australian investors in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto continue to back the iron ore majors' rapid expansions, saying the industry fallout is a process of "natural selection" and that Andrew Forrest's offer last week to cap production casts more doubt on Fortescue Metals Group than it does on the strategies of its rivals.

The global sharemarket bull run has just celebrated its sixth anniversary, but while Wall Street is trading around all-time peaks, the local market is still nearly 15 per cent shy of the highs it reached prior to the global financial crisis.

Mining companies in Western Australia have massively reduced their exploration budgets, a new survey has found.

The value of our collective know-how has never been higher.

SHARES in mining services business Ausdrill have slumped to a five year low after its second profit warning in just two months.

Growth in private non-mining business investment has been quite subdued over the past few years relative to the cyclical upswings seen in the 1980s and 1990s. Part of this weakness can be explained by cyclical factors that affect investment – such as a more moderate pace of growth in the output of, and demand for, non-mining goods and services.

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