The mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector continues to feel the pressure of the slump, and no-one is expecting the situation to improve in 2016.
A number of the high-profile companies in the sector have been under pressure, with their share price and performance numbers sliding.
Exploration specialists saw total exploration expenditure drop to $183.5 million in the   March 2015 quarter, according to ABS data. This is the lowest level since early 2007. 
"The companies hit hardest were those that were dependent on the contracting of services by the majors," says Brian Hodges, managing director of services firm Bradken.
"That work just isn't there any more. When the big firms were in the investment phase they contracted services out to focus on their project development, but in the past few years they have brought a lot of that work back inside, and have done everything possible to cut their costs."
He notes that during the resources boom Bradken supplied specialist capital products such as rail wagons to the majors. Since capital expenditure dried up the company has managed to re-focus on another arm of their business, the supply of wear parts, consumable products and specialist machinery.
This has allowed the company to maintain a revenue stream but Hodges emphasises that service firms have to be keenly aware of their own cost structures, and look for opportunities for operational improvements wherever they are. Bradken has moved some of its manufacturing to China, has acquired world-competitive facilities in North America, and plans to begin manufacturing in India in the near future.
"Our short-term strategy is to focus on growing high-margin revenue through market share for consumable products," Hodges says. "We want to be in a good position to gain volume when the market improves."
He is unwilling to predict when there might be a sustained recovery for the METS sector but suggests that there will be an equipment replacement phase in 2018. It hardly constitutes a boom but it might be a lifeline for specialist parts manufacturers, if they can last that long.
Another possibility for struggling companies in the METS sector is to take a broader view of opportunities.
"A lot of METS companies are built on a specific innovation or expertise, but they might not realise the value of it," says Don Scott-Kemmis, Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, a consultant to the mining sector, and author of a monograph prepared for the Minerals Council, How about those METS? Leveraging Australia's mining equipment, technology and services sector.
"The Australian mining sector has a very good reputation overseas," he says. "It means METS companies are well-placed to move into other countries, and there are ways to break in."
He notes that in the past few months Austrade has organised Australian participation at key mining events in offshore markets including Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, Peru, Kazakhstan and Mexico.
The Asia Pacific International Mining Exhibition held in Sydney in   September drew delegations from China, India, Canada and Chile, and there was a separate conference for officials from Africa in Perth.
He nominates software as a likely area for further development - in fact, Australia is a world leader in software designed for the resource industry, with 60 per cent of the world's mining computer software being developed here.
Other areas where METS companies might have exportable expertise are water management, environment and rehabilitation, and processing and beneficiation, especially where there is an IT connection.
"IT is now used across almost all stages of mine development and operations. The current phase of innovation is continuing this process and also driving towards much greater integration of IT systems," Scott-Kemmis says.
"The smaller METS firms have to work to ensure that the opportunities are not captured only by large international firms. The development of the government-sponsored METS Growth Centre might provide an opportunity for linkages across the sector, and between the majors, smaller firms and research organisations.
It can also help companies see how they might diversify, applying their expertise to non-mining areas. There needs to be a readiness to chase new business, to think like entrepreneurs."
Brian Hodges agrees, saying: "In a volatile sector, you survive by looking ahead. Even in good times, you have to be willing to examine all the possibilities, even if they are out of your usual comfort zone. You have to be able to ramp up when there is plenty of work but equally to ramp down when things contract. You need to be flexible."