With the mining boom over, the Australian dollar has fallen and so have many commodity prices.

Iron and coal are still well down on the highs of two years ago.

In the case of iron ore, the price drop has been over 50 per cent.

Justin Smirk, senior economist at Westpac, said he expected the prices to stay low and he could not see any sign of a recovery until 2016.

"There has been what economists call a shift," he said.

"The boom in China is slowing, demand for iron ore is still well down, but the economy there is still growing at 7 per cent.

"We are not talking in a negative way about China, but the demand is definitely lower with this big supply of cheap ore coming online, from South America and Australia.

Mr Smirk said Western Australia's Roy Hill iron ore mine coming back on line this year would increase the cheap supply.

"While the big prices have come back, many iron and coal mining companies like Rio and BHP are still making good profits, so they are still pumping it out," he said.

"On the coal price, the more expensive mines are being closed and the cheaper newer coal mines are being expanded.

"Over the last three years, coal exports were actually growing year on year, but the price has fallen. So jobs are being shed, margins are tighter and profits are lower."