Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in

Zug , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

, Switzerland and with its registered office in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, nickel, primary

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

and the world's largest producer of

ferrochrome Ferrochrome, or ferrochromium (FeCr) is a type of ferroalloy, that is, an alloy of chromium and iron, generally containing 50 to 70% chromium by weight. Ferrochrome is produced by electric arc carbothermic reduction of chromite. Most of the ...

. It had operations in 19 countries across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America. Xstrata had a primary listing on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and was a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

. It had a

market capitalisation Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

of approximately £29 billion as of 23 December 2011, making it the 16th-largest company on the London Stock Exchange. It had a secondary listing on the

SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other security (finance), securities such as Swiss government bonds and d ...

. In the 2013

Forbes Global 2000 The ''Forbes'' Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by ''Forbes'' magazine. "The Global 2000" annual ranking is assembled by ''Forbes'' using a weighted assessment of four metrics: sales, profi ...

, Xstrata was ranked as the 202nd largest public company in the world. On 2 May 2013 Xstrata was acquired by

Glencore Glencore plc is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey. The current company was c ...

. Glencore later retired the Xstrata brand, and the company name changed from Glencore Xstrata plc to Glencore plc. The Xstrata name survives in the Mexican foreign capital company Xstrata Mexico.

History

The company was founded in 1926 in Switzerland as ''Südelektra'', an infrastructure and electricity projects concern operating in Latin America. In 1990, Marc Rich + Co AG became its majority shareholder. In the 1990s it diversified into mining and disposed of its non-core businesses. It was first listed on the

in 2002 at which time it acquired

's coal assets in Australia and South Africa. In 2003, it doubled in size with the A$2.9 billion takeover of Australian copper,

and lead miner

MIM Holdings MIM Holdings Limited was an Australian mining company created in 1970
Accessed 31 May 2013 as the parent company of

. However, it failed in a 2005 bid for another Australian miner,

WMC Resources WMC Resources Limited was an Australian diversified mining company. History Western Mining Corporation (WMC) was formed in 1933, when William Robinson, the Australian-born London-based managing director of Broken Hill Associated Smelters, wa ...

, which was captured by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

, the world's biggest mining company. In 2004, Xstrata closed its recently purchased Windimurra Vanadium plant in Western Australia which had the effect of increasing Vanadium prices received for Xstrata's other Vanadium mines around the world. Many hundreds of people were put out of work. In August 2005, Xstrata purchased a 19.9% stake in

Falconbridge Limited Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including nickel, copper, cobalt, and plati ...

, a diversified Canadian mining company producing copper, nickel, aluminum, lead and

. Following a contested take-over battle with Inco Limited, Xstrata acquired the remaining 80.1% of Falconbridge in August 2006. In 2006, The

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

Governments approved the expansion of the

McArthur River zinc mine The McArthur River mine is a zinc-lead mine, situated about 70 kilometres southwest of Borroloola, near the Gulf of Carpentaria in the northeastern Northern Territory, Australia. It is operated by McArthur River Mining (MRM), a subsidiary of ...

, near the popular fishing destination of Borrooloola. The expansion involves diversion of the river to a new 5.5 km channel, to allow construction of a massive open-cut pit in the existing river. On behalf of the Traditional Owners of the region – the Yanyuwa, Mara, Garrawa and Gurdanji peoples – the Northern Land Council launched a legal challenge to the Northern Territory Government's decision to approve the mining of and diversion of the McArthur River. On 1 May 2007, The Northern Territory Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Northern Land Council to stop the expansion. On 3 May 2007, the Northern Territory government rushed through retrospective legislation to overrule the court decision and allow the open-cut mine to proceed. On 28 May 2012 violent repression of local residents by the police in the province of Espinar, Cuzco, Peru, caused the deaths of two civilians. The inhabitants protested against the pollution of the water sources caused by Xstrata's mining activities. The government has decreed a

State of Emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

and suspended civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution. On 2 May 2013 Xstrata was acquired by

. Xstrata Mexico, created in 2011 as a Special Purpose Vehicle to develop iron ore mining in Mexico, continues to use the Xstrata name, though it halted its mining activities in Mexico in 2015, and in 2016 moved into agribusiness.

Operations

After 2000, it developed from a small player into one of the world's largest diversified mining groups with the help of a series of large

acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

. In 2008, its degree of transnationality according to the Transnationality Index was 93.2 percent and ranked first place. It had major operations/projects in eighteen countries (Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Jamaica,

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, the United States and the United Kingdom) and it was a major producer of copper,

coking coal Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...

, thermal coal, nickel,

and

. It had smaller scale involvement in aluminum, gold, lead and silver. It also had interests in

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

group metals through its 24.9% stake in

Lonmin Lonmin plc, formerly Lonrho plc, was a British producer of platinum group metals operating in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its registered office was in London, and its operational headquarters ...

. In July 2012, Xstrata opened its first office in mainland China. China accounted for up to one-third of Xstrata's global sales. The office was located in Shanghai.

Bulga Coal

Xstrata were the operators of the Bulga Coal Mine in NSW, Australia. Xstrata managed this mine on behalf of the Bulga Coal Pty Ltd shareholders from 2001 when it purchased Enex Resources Limited from Glencore International AG. The Bulga Coal mine site served as the headquarters for Xstrata Coal's NSW division.

Mangoola (Anvil Hill) Coal Mine controversy

In 2007 Xstrata Coal bought the Anvil Hill Coal Mine in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

from

Centennial Coal ÷Some of the more notable coal companies in Australia are the following: Summary of coal companies Anglo Coal Australia Ltd Anglo Coal Australia Ltd owns and operates a number of mines in Queensland and New South Wales. Mines Callide mine: i ...

. After this,, Xstrata Coal came under media scrutiny numerous times in regards to the company's management of the pre-mining stage of the mining project. Most notably scrutinised was the community relations approach of Xstrata Coal towards the local community, with allegations of misleading actions on behalf of the company being cited in the local and regional media, and other regional and local communication channels. This included the setting up of a local action group in opposition to the mine named WAG (Wybong Action Group).

George Fisher mine

In October 2010, Xstrata's A$274 million expansion plan for the George Fisher mine at

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

was approved by the government of Queensland

Relationship with Glencore

When

Mick Davis Sir Michael Lawrence Davis (born 15 February 1958) is a British politician and former South African businessman, former Chief Executive and Treasurer of the Conservative Party and the chief executive (CEO) of Xstrata plc, an Anglo-Swiss multina ...

was appointed CEO of Xstrata in 2001, Glencore controlled 40% of Xstrata stock. Xstrata had the option of using Glencore as a marketing agent. In 2006,

leaders Willy Strothotte and

Ivan Glasenberg Ivan Glasenberg (born 7 January 1957) is a South African business executive and former chief executive officer of Glencore, one of the world's largest commodity trading and mining companies. In December 2020 it was announced that Glasenberg will ...

were on the board of Xstrata, which Strothotte chaired. In June 2012, following a previous announcement of a merger between Glencore and Xstrata, the two companies began to reconsider the proposed retention package for their merger, due to shareholder opposition to a huge payout for executives. In total, 73 key executives stood to receive over GBP 170 million under the initial retention package. In July 2012, Xstrata announced that the Court Meeting originally scheduled for 12 July 2012 to approve the details of the merger between Xstrata and Glencore had been adjourned to 7 September 2012. After the merger with Glencore, the Xstrata

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

Trevor Reid announced that he would not continue to work as employee but as consultant. After 11 years of involvement, this marks a massive shift in the company's strategy and the group is entering a post-Reid era.Xstrata/Glencore Have to Get On Without CFO Trevor Reid
''CFO Insight Magazine''. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 12-13-2012

The Xstrata name

The Xstrata name, which evokes the activities of mining and extraction, was suggested in 1999 by John Lloyd of the British corporate identity consultancy Lloyd Northover. Glencore has also announced that they will no longer use the 'Xstrata' brand and it will be phased out. Glencore Xstrata plc is now Glencore plc.

References

External links

{{Authority control Defunct mining companies Mining companies of Switzerland Defunct companies of Switzerland Copper mining companies of Switzerland Coal companies of Switzerland Nickel mining companies Zinc mining companies Multinational companies headquartered in Switzerland Companies based in Zug Non-renewable resource companies established in 1926 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2013 Energy companies disestablished in 2013 Swiss companies established in 1926 Coal companies of Australia Coal companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange Swiss companies disestablished in 2013