, Columnist
Why Shareholders Aren’t Loving Rio Tinto’s Cash Machine
The big mining companies are thriving again, but they’re right to be cautious.
Stacking aluminum billets at Rio Tinto’s casting center in Saguenay, Quebec.
Photographer: Christinne Muschi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Poor little rich kids.
After a brush with death when commodity prices slumped barely three years ago, the world’s miners are back in rude health. Net debt at the big five is now headed to its lowest levels since the peak of the previous mining boom in 2011, based on reported results and analyst estimates.