Mine 2023: 20th edition

The era of reinvention

For the 20th edition, our Global Mines report have included a short section that recalls some of the more significant trends over the past 20 years. The report is based on world’s Top 40 mining companies including China.

The world’s big mining companies must find a new formula for success and the era of critical minerals has arrived. Miners can no longer depend on yesterday’s portfolios and practices to create value in this newly dynamic and fiercely competitive landscape. And mining CEOs seem to know it: of those polled in PwC’s 26th Annual Global CEO Survey, 41% don’t think their companies will be economically viable in ten years if they continue on their current path.

The era of critical minerals must therefore be an era of reinvention.

20-Years of Mine

In 2004, PwC launched Mine, our first annual review of the world’s largest mining companies.

Over the past 20 years, we have observed these trends:

Shifting commodity mix
Industry consolidation
New capital discipline
Digital transformation
License to mine

Critical Minerals

The government has emerged as an important new player in the critical minerals market.

Over the past 12 months, we have seen three main forms of government action:

Alliances & agreements
Policy & legislation
Funding

Decarbonisation

One-third of mining CEOs see their company as highly or extremely exposed to climate-related risks.

Decarbonisation can help miners create value at all points along the value chain.

Financials

Revenues (including trading):
US$711bn
(-1% from 2021)

EBITDA margin
29%
(-3% percentage points from 2021)

Market capitalisation
US$1.2tn
(+2% from 2021)

Deals

Value of critical minerals deals
+151% from 2021

Value of gold deals
-50% from 2021

Critical minerals dominated deal activity in 2022, accounting for 66% of total deal value.

Workforce

Two-thirds of mining CEOs believe that skill shortages will have a large or very large impact on profitability in the next 10 years.

70% of 15 to 30-year olds would probably or definitely not consider a career in mining.