With the resources boom already at historic proportions, some professional investors question how long the good times can last and whether switching to relatively unloved industrial stocks might offer stronger returns.

Putting the boom in context, eminent historian Geoffrey Blainey tells The Australian Financial Review: “This is perhaps the great mining period in Australia’s history. The very recent boom in mineral prices might end soon, but minerals – old and new – will probably remain crucial to Australia’s standard of living at least in the next dozen years.”