Slowing global growth, cost inflation, strikes and disappointing outputs have placed increasing strain on mining company valuations as of November 2012 yet even with a shortfall in key commodities BlackRock had sighted continued opportunities in the metals market.
The BlackRock Investment Institute released its paper 'Mine your Mine!' yesterday, highlighting the investment manager's views concerning the challenges and opportunities for the metals sector.
"Looking forward a few years, it is possible to see deficits opening up in some metals markets," BlackRock natural resources equity team chief executive Evy Hambro said.
"This is a sector that is rife with investment opportunities."
While BlackRock expects some of the factors that have led to share price weakness to lift in the current year, selective investment is key.
In addition, Australia remained a top resource country for the metals market, with cost inflation abating.
BlackRock also singled out copper producers and low-cost iron ore miners to be among the top investment metals that were expected to generate bigger returns in the current year.
"If we can look through the short-term volatility, the environment bodes well for metals prices in the medium-term but we need to be selective," Mr Hambro said.
"The winners will be the miners owning the right metals in the right places at the right time."
