"How the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the global mining industry", 30 April 2020.

...When economic growth slows down there is a decline in general industrial activity and this slows the demand for mined products...This coronavirus crisis is different. Yes, demand for mined products is falling as economic activity slows down, but for the first time falling demand is accompanied by significant supply-side upheaval. Mines remain open in some countries. But in others, such as Peru, mining operations are severely restricted as part of government efforts to control the pandemic. Viral outbreaks at specific mine sites in other locations have also caused those operations to be closed...This makes predicting future prices no better than a guessing game...Even if demand for many commodities falls, in some cases supplies of that product may fall even faster. That means metal prices could actually rise during this economic downturn. A case in point here is uranium, an essential material for nuclear power stations. Uranium prices increased 20 per cent in April from a low in March...

The last theme that will characterize this economic crisis is the importance of critical metals...such as cobalt, lithium, neodymium and nickel...Other materials, especially cobalt and rare earths are thinly traded and dominated by Chinese companies. We are likely to see the U.S. and companies like Apple and Tesla securing their supply by investing directly in processing and mining...All mining industry downturns have some similarities, but this one really is different...Companies looking to acquire critical metals mines will likely add another set of acquisition criteria that focus on pandemic resilience, including automation, remote-controlled drilling and vulnerabilities to logistics disruptions. Mines ranked highly on these factors are likely to receive a premium price...