Mining guru Peter Major looks at the performance of the commodity sector during 2021, where prices seesawed over the course of the year. Despite the first six months seeing record prices across the board, commodity prices have fallen off a cliff in the second half. The last few weeks have been flooded with mergers and acquisitions activity, which historically has indicated the top of the commodity cycle and has concerned analysts. Impala Platinum has made a second attempt to takeover mid-tier precious metals producer Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlats), with competitor Northam having recently acquired a third of the business for R17bn. Impala’s part-cash, part-share deal of R150 per share values RBPlats at R43bn. Glencore has been under pressure from activist shareholders to disinvest from its thermal coal operations, however, Major believes these cheap, attractive assets will continue to deliver good shareholder returns.