A flat 2020 market outlook for many of the world’s significant METS (mining equipment, technology and services) companies has become much less benign due to operational and expenditure cutbacks by miners in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, causing many public-company investors to abandon contracting, engineering, manufacturing and technology stocks in the first four months of the year. The result is a sea of red with 20-50% wiped off the value of stocks making up 70% of the companies in Mining Journal Intelligence’s latest METS top-100 global listing.