As we head into the third quarter of 2011, industrial minerals markets are not suffering but are not out of the woods yet.
The price of oil - the lifeblood for mineral hungry growing economies - was volatile but has ended up around the same level as it was four months ago, at around $112 a barrel.
Greece voted through an austerity package to allow it to get a second loan to stop the government defaulting on borrowed cash, saving Europe from a falling into another recession, at least for a while.
But the second round of US quantitative easing (QE2) - money printing from the Federal Reserve to boost the economy - has also ended, with investors fleeing from risky commodities and emerging markets into safer investments. There has been no talk of QE3 yet.
“Will the global economy wake up with a big hangover as the Fed takes...