You may be right about the US economy taking a long time to recover, however China seems to be doing pretty well. From my earlier post;

China’s crude steel production for July 2009 was 50.7 mmt, 12.6% higher than July 2008. It is the first time ever that China has produced over 50 mmt of crude steel in a month accounting for almost 50% of world crude steel production. Since April 2009, world and China’s crude steel production has shown a steady month on month increase.

Since US steel production was 5.0 mmt for the same month, July, it is obvious that demand for steel ingredients such as nickel, chromite, and vanadium is far greater overseas. Chinese production in July grew by 12.6% from last year, an amount greater than the total US production for the same month.

US production is also growing, however, with a month by month increase since April 09. By the time mines in the ROF are producing demand will be there, and prices, especially in US dollars, will be higher.