With the only exception of gold, production numbers for most other commodities mined in the Central African nation are also expected to decline this year.
Despite current adverse conditions, advisory firm Behre Dolbear is recommending mining stakeholders to focus on markets that have been able to ride the wave relatively well so far.
As prices for the company's four key "pillar" commodities —iron ore, metallurgical coal, copper and oil and gas — have all dropped to multi-year lows in the past 12 months.
We're not in 2008 – plotting global economic growth against commodity prices shows metals and mining sell-off is disconnected from realities on the ground.