In 2011, the iron ore-rich Pilbara region of north-west Australia was on the frontier of a 21st century gold rush, this time with iron ore as the main prize – driven by China’s formidable appetite for natural resources to build up its infrastructure and modernise its economy.

Pilbara boasted salaries two-thirds higher than the national average and almost 80% of workers were flown into their jobs from Australia’s big cities. Now, mortgaged to the hilt on homes that lost value almost before the paint had dried, the mineworkers that remain are accepting longer hours and lower wages in an effort to keep up with the repayments.

And as the August turmoil in the world’s financial markets made clear, there are fears thatChinamay be set to experience a deeper and more damaging slowdown than Beijing has publicly acknowledged, which could have a profound impact on a whole string of countries that have built their growth model on China’s rise.

Even if a formal recession can be avoided in Australia, the human cost of the ending of what many market experts called the “commodities super-cycle”, and the boom-times it brought with it, will be severe.

bbabo.Net