Eurasian Resources Group: market outlook 2018

India's economy is growing at its slowest pace in nine years and investor confidence has also been eroded by the current government's frequent policy u-turns, corruption scandals and power blackouts.

"A metal-making process known to the ancient Romans could be pressed into service to bring Mars into the Iron Age - and start opening the solar system to human habitation."

The latest downturn in the price comes as iron ore stockpiles at Chinese ports climb by more than 420,000 tonnes in a week to almost 100 million tonnes.

Giant miner Rio Tinto is closing down its Blair Athol coal mine in Australia as the company considers whether to limit spending on new projects next year.

The company points to its iron ore division's record performance as reason for first half underlying earnings of $5.2 billion.

Xstrata has approved a $360 million expansion for its McArthur River mine in Australia’s Northern Territory which will make the project the largest producer of zinc in the world.

The mining giant is also scaling back or postponing other expensive expansion projects but the pullback in iron ore – by far the Melbourne-based company's most profitable division – is a surprising move and indicative of the cloudy outlook for the commodities business.

A study of Quebec's royalty rates for miners, which was hurried out before the provincial election, warned the government not to dip its hand any deeper into resource company pockets.

The stock hit a high of $50 in May 2008 and came close again in April 2011, but at $170 billion, the Melbourne-based company is now valued at some $80 billion less that at its peak.