Mining executives say that neither the shortages of metals nor China's demand for them will change any time soon - and that the growth of India will provide further support for commodities prices.

矿业高管们表示，金属短缺和中国对金属的需求，在短期内都不会发生变化，而印度的经济增长将为大宗商品价格提供进一步支撑。

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Furthermore, since new mines can take as long as a decade to develop, mining executives say, and since firms made few investments during the lean years of the 1980s and 1990s, supply could take a long time to catch up with demand.

ECONOMIST: How to make sense of the current plethora of mining deals

Mining executives say that while they chuckle about the quirks of older geologists, they recognize the business value of their memory of previous exploratory work, their grasp of complex rock formations and their discipline in knowing how to meticulously chart new territory.

WSJ: In Geology, Old-Timers Can Be Worth Their Weight in Gold