Ian,
good comments and very similar experiences to myself.
Re: 2007, I believe that there is some degree of M&A speculation surrounding the smaller miners, and hence their share price is likely to outperform the bigger ones like BLT. AAL is one example. I'm not too clued up on miners but perhaps some of the other traders here can shed some light on this.
I will look at BLT if it hits sub-860 again. I do believe it is a good long term play.
China/India should remain good consumers of metals in 2007. I doubt there'll be a global slowdown next year, though 2008 is a possibility.
Anyway, if Bush stays in power there's always the chance he will launch another war and give us all the chance to short the markets down!