The value of base metal miners and diversified giants fell on Tuesday as metals prices dropped back to near financial crisis lows after Chinese manufacturing data shocked commodity markets.

Nickel miner Panoramic has widened its losses for the 2015 financial year, as bottom-line figures were affected by lower production and declining revenues.

Standard & Poor’s warned on Monday it was likely to revise the credit ratings for some miners over the next week after cutting its price forecasts for aluminium, copper, zinc, nickel and gold and said it expected prices to remain volatile.

Shares in Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) soared Thursday morning after the copper and gold miner said it would capital spending plans for 2016 by 29%, and reduce its U.S.-based workforce by about 10%.

Prefabricated building supplier Speedspace delivered 4,256 m2 of mobile preassembled building solutiongs to Botswana government-owned nickel and copper producer BCL last month.

South32, the miner spun out of BHP Billiton in May, said full-year earnings rose 41% helped by its aluminium and alumina operations.

In the second quarter EY’s Canadian Mining Eye index which tracks the performance of 100 TSX and TSX Venture mid-tier and junior companies managed to show gians for the first time in a year.

Mick Carew, a research analyst with Haywood Securities, hopes we have found the bottom of the commodity cycle but expects M&A activity to continue apace through the rest of this year and into 2016 as low metals prices force the hands of underfunded management ...