Opinion: Big Mining’s takeover mania seems on break. It won’t last long as copper demand soars – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – January 18, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In the mining industry, mass creates mass. As mining companies get bigger, their expenses and debts rise, requiring more revenues and cash flow to cover their costs and occasionally epic cost overruns. So they devour their rivals, which also eliminates the hassle of building mines in unsavoury parts of the planet.

So it has always been, which is why a small number of giants dominate the global industry. BHP and Rio Tinto have market valuations of US$100-billion or more. Further down the list, though still enormous, are Glencore, Vale, Anglo American and Freeport-McMoRan. Soon there will be fewer. Another round of mergers and acquisitions seems almost certain this year.

This week, Rio Tinto and Glencore, both of them listed on the London exchange, were said to be in merger talks, or at least recently held them, according to Bloomberg. In a sense, the news was not really news, since highly opportunistic Glencore is always playing the M&A game

For the rest of this column: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-big-minings-takeover-mania-seems-on-break-it-wont-last-long-as-copper/