(Bloomberg Opinion) -- After years of buying at the peak of the economic cycle and selling in the trough, could the world’s big diggers do the reverse? Compared to peers in oil and gas, Rio Tinto Group and the largest diversified miners are riding out the coronavirus storm in sheltered positions: They have low operating costs, little debt and more than $60 billion in liquidity.

History matters here. Just over a decade ago, miners binged on hubristic investments like Rio’s acquisition of aluminum producer Alcan or Anglo American Plc’s Minas Rio iron-ore venture. In the hangover years between 2012 and 2016, some $200 billion was written off, and a generation of chief executives were shown the door. It was a near-death experience akin to what the energy sector is going through today, and one that left behind an industry focused on cleaning up, cutting back and returning cash to shareholders. Rio has been among the most generous, handing back $36 billion since 2016.

It means the industry’s largest players went into this crisis with two things: balance sheets at their most robust in years, and a pedestrian growth outlook. Almost the opposite is true at long-coveted targets like Freeport-McMoRan Inc., with a market value of $11 billion, and First Quantum Minerals Ltd., valued at $3.5 billion. These mid-size base metal producers are beginning to look fragile, with expanding copper mines but nearly $19 billion of total debt between them. Their shares have fallen more than 40% this year. No one knows how long a recovery from the pandemic will take, or what life will look like on the other side, but miners have a little more certainty than most: Metals like copper, used for electrification and a host of consumer goods, will be needed, and will be in short supply. It’s a tantalizing state of affairs.

As ever, things aren’t quite that simple, and even the heftiest miners aren’t immune to the world’s turmoil. BHP Group has to contend with the crashing oil price. Anglo American is dealing with lockdowns in South Africa, Peru and elsewhere, as governments try to contain the spread of coronavirus. Glencore Plc, long the most buccaneering of the large players, is tackling succession, trouble in Zambia and a pending U.S. Department of Justice investigation into its business practices.

At Rio, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques has perhaps the strongest motivation to act. He is less exposed to many of these uncertainties, and is running a miner that still relies on iron ore for about three-quarters of its Ebitda, as steel consumption hovers at or near a peak in China. Large mainland miners, like acquisitive Zijin Mining Group or Jiangxi Copper Co., may be his competitors. There are cashed-up bullion players, too: Barrick Gold Corp.’s CEO, Mark Bristow, has said he could consider copper and even Freeport’s Indonesian Grasberg mine.