If you're a miner, this is "not the time for courage" (to borrow a classic Gartman-ism). 

The global slump in commodities shows no sign of abating and a stubborn OPEC isn't doing anything to help matters. Meanwhile, China's economy continues to decelerate and while last night's trade data showed demand "improving", it's important to put the import "beat" in context - imports still fell by nearly 9% Y/Y last month and while iron ore imports were up M/M in November, average prices for the first eleven months of 2015 are still down more than 39%. As MNI notes, "customs data showed that after seasonal adjustment, November imports were still 3.6% lower than a month ago."

All of this has become par for the course and indeed, it now appears we may have entered a new era where sluggish global growth and trade has become the norm. 

Against this backdrop, commodities producers (both at the state and company level) are struggling to survive. The world is mired in a global deflationary supply glut, and without a commensurate pickup in aggregate demand, it looks like the oversupply and overcapacity problem may be here to stay. 

In the latest example of just how bad things have gotten, Anglo American - the world's fifth largest miner - just kitchen sink-ed it, announcing a sweeping restructuring, a massive round of layoffs, and a dividend cut. The company will reduce its assets by some 60% while headcount will be cut by a whopping 85,000 or, nearly two thirds. 

"We think the best answer for our shareholders is to go down to smaller, high quality, more resilient portfolio where we think we can deploy capital more effectively," Anglo American Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said Tuesday.

Maybe, but shareholders weren't happy to see their payout cut for H2 and for the entirety of next year. The stock fell sharply, dropping nearly than 10% at one point to a record low. "Anglo fell 7.9 percent to 339.95 pence by 11:12 a.m. in London, giving the company a market value of $6.5 billion. The shares earlier touched the lowest since being listed in 1999. The last time Anglo cut its dividend, during the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009, the shares plunged 17 percent in one day," Bloomberg reminds us.