As Australia is one of the world’s largest commodity exporters, the ASX is full of mining stocks. These cover the full commodity spectrum, from gold to oil to zinc, iron ore, and everything in between. Mining stocks can be massive multi-commodity producers like BHP Billiton Ltd [ASX:BHP], or tiny little explorers. In the middle of the spectrum are the developers. These are the companies that have found a resource and are in the process of developing it for production.
Mining companies are capital intensive. That is, they need a lot of capital to first search for a resource — drilling programs are not cheap — and then develop the resource and build an operating plant adjacent to the mine. That’s why commodity prices have such a big impact on these companies. When prices are high, the cash flow from production increases, as does the share price. But when prices decline, cash flow and share prices fall too. With risk comes reward, though. Mining stocks, especially explorers, could provide explosive gains if you back the right stock at the right time.