The despair of trying to operate for the past three years with marginal prices for mineral products has taken its toll on earnings, some of which could have gone into developing new and better ways to mine. But just as necessity is the mother of invention, low profit is the father of cost cutting research that can lead to improved, lower cost mining trends. The work that is going on in Canada, Australia, Sweden and Finland on machine automation are good examples of research that will not only cut cost, but improve mine safety. Likewise, the developments in communications and management controls are other areas of intense development. This paper will also cover the more mundane, but significantly important trends in mining methods, ground control, drilling, loading and hauling, mechanical excavation, and mining methods.