Every segment of the mining industry and the companies that support it continue to enjoy great success with no end in sight despite trouble on Wall Street, industry leaders said Monday at a national conference and trade show.

Much of the optimism can be attributed to the unprecedented demand from China and India, said Harold Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

“The boom in worldwide mining activity and the equipment to bring those products to market has arguably been the biggest economic success story of the year,” he said at MINExpo International 2008, which opened Monday in Las Vegas. He expects the gathering to be the largest ever with more than 35,000 attendees—50 percent more than the last such expo in 2004.

Timothy W. Sullivan, president and CEO of equipment manufacturer Bucyrus International Inc. and chairman of MINExpo 2008, said the record size of this year’s exhibition is an indication of the strong market conditions for mining and mining equipment.

“We’ve had an unprecedented run over the last few years, thanks largely to the developing world’s powerful and sustained demand for copper, gold, iron ore, coal and other products of mining,” he said. “We see nothing near term to dampen the bullish outlook.”

Gary Goldberg, president and CEO of Rio Tinto Minerals, said gold, copper, uranium and other metals will remain strong markets, “even as commodity prices moderate from unprecedented highs.”

Gold passed the $1,000 an ounce threshold in March and has vacillated between $750 to $990 since then.

Copper took an even deeper plunge, but Goldberg believes the metal will rebound “thanks to a tight supply” and the demand from China and India.

Uranium demand is expected to increase dramatically as more nations turn to nuclear energy. Today the world demand hovers at 150 million tons. By comparison, 325 million tons will be required by 2025.

Also, the demand for potash, sulfate and chloride “will climb by 2 percent or better annually,” Goldberg said.

While Goldberg acknowledged there is uncertainty and even fear over the stock market in the U.S. and other developed nations, he said the outlook for hardrock mining has never been brighter.

In addition to higher demand for gold, for instance, China will double its need for copper, nickel, zinc and platinum – meaning Chinese manufacturers will “soon account for more than half the global demand” for the majority of metals,” he said.

Sullivan said that in 1976, roughly 80 percent of heavy equipment manufacturing was done for U.S. customers. Today, the same percentage is international orders.

“We’ve flip-flopped,” he said.

The U.S. heavy equipment manufacturing industry faces a huge backlog, with most clients coming from China, India, Brazil and Russia.

“The industry is growing by 6 percent annually,” he said. The demand for shovels, haul trucks and underground equipment is huge and the majority of it is headed to overseas operations, he said.

AP

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Information from: Elko Daily Free Press, http://www.elkodaily.com