Mining continues to recover despite falling prices for gold, uranium and potash. Although gold is still up 20% on the year, platinum and palladium are down 8.5% and 7.4% from August highs. Still, with a gain of 47%, or US$220/oz. an ounce from low to high in 2016, palladium remains among the best-performing precious metals. Meanwhile, base metals are also up in 2016. Zinc is the year's best performer, up 49% since January. Lead has now risen by 16.5% in 2016, breaching US$2,000/t in September. Bellwether copper remains in a tight range between US$2.00 and US$2.30. Aluminum and cobalt have also gained by double digits so far this year; tin is up 39% and nickel 17%. Both are currently trading at 2016 highs. Iron ore is up 28.2%, currently holding above US$50/t  defying projections for this year, but not expected to sustain these gains by the end of the year. The most spectacular price gain is for coking coal: up 163%, trading at US$213.40 on Wednesday. Prices for seaborne thermal coal are up 65% in 2016, to more than $80/t.