Hard commodities – such as iron ore and metallurgical coal for making steel – are about as far away as you can get from the digital world of artificial intelligence (AI). So investors should consider mining businesses for diversification to reduce the risk that all the assets in our portfolios go up or down at the same time.

Better still, the world’s biggest miner, BHP Holdings (BHP), with a stock market value of Australian dollars $336 billion (£178 billion) is a deliberately forward-facing business. It is the largest producer of copper and the global trend toward electrification would not get very far without this red metal’s excellent conductivity. Looking forward, BHP is also close to becoming one of the biggest producers of fertilisers needed to feed the rising global population.