Melbourne — The world’s biggest iron-ore miners will be able to weather the expected price plunge because their race to cut production costs has lowered the industry’s margin pressure point, allowing them to keep fuelling a cash juggernaut that has revived the mining sector. More than 90% of producers in the global seaborne market can generate profits at a benchmark price of $60 a tonne, Adrian Doyle, a Sydney-based senior consultant at researcher CRU Group, said. That compares with about 65% of suppliers able to avoid losses at the same price point three years ago, he said. "There have been fantastic cost reductions in a lot of instances." Producers have also been boosted by lower oil prices, Doyle said. "If we were thinking of a pressure point where we’d start to see a bit of stretching in the industry, previously it would’ve have been around $60 a tonne; now it’s closer to $50 a tonne to $45 a tonne to stress-test everyone but the majors." Benchmark iron ore dropped lower than $9...
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