Mining boom ends, but death throes easier than feared

The end of the resources boom has created a host of difficulties for mining services operators, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

More pain is to come from operators spanning contract driller Boart Longyear to laboratory testing group ALS. Share prices are in the doldrums and there is little prospect of relief.

Yet mine service operators are handling the downturn better than many expected. That is the view of PPB Advisory, which credits aggressive pre-emptive action by management as the downturn loomed.

“We were expecting it to fall off a cliff,” said PPB Advisory's head of mining and energy, former Rio Tinto executive Campbell Jaski.