Glencore International AG
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Glencore plc is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and
mining company This is an incomplete alphabetical list of mining companies. A * Adex Mining * Aditya Birla Group * African Rainbow Minerals * Agnico Eagle * Aiteo * Alumina * Anaconda Copper * Anglo American (mining) * Anglo Platinum * AngloGold Ashanti * A ...
with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
and its registered office is in
Saint Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...
,
Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...
. The current company was created through a merger of Glencore with
Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...
on 2 May 2013. , it ranked tenth in the
Fortune Global 500 The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine. Methodology Until 1989, it listed onl ...
list of the world's largest companies. In the 2020
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, profit ...
, Glencore International was ranked as the 484th-largest public company in the world. As of July 2022, it is the world's largest commodity trader. As Glencore International, the company was already one of the world's largest integrated producers and marketers of
commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a co ...
. It was the largest company in Switzerland as well as the world's largest commodities trading company, with a 2010 global market share of 60% in internationally tradable zinc, 50% in internationally tradable copper, 9% in the internationally tradable grain market and 3% in the internationally tradable oil market. Glencore had a number of production facilities all around the world and supplied metals, minerals, crude oil, oil products, coal, natural gas and agricultural products to international customers in the automotive, power generation, steel production and food processing industries. The company was formed in 1994 by a
management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...
of Marc Rich + Co AG (itself founded in 1974). It was listed 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 ...
in May 2011 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 marke ...
. It had a secondary listing on the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is rep ...
, but it has withdrawn from January 2018. Glencore's shares started trading on the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...
in November 2013. The
Qatar Investment Authority The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ar, جهاز قطر للإستثمار) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In 202 ...
is its biggest shareholder as of 2016. In March 2022, Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund announced it would sell a stake worth £812 million ( US$1.1 billion) in Glencore Plc.


History


1974–1994: formation and sale

The company was founded in 1974 as Marc Rich & Co. AG by commodity traders
Marc Rich Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier, businessman, and financial criminal. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later ind ...
and Pincus Green. In 1993, a number of Marc Rich employees, led by Claude Dauphin, left to set up another trading company,
Trafigura Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. is a Singaporean-based Swiss multinational commodity trading company founded in 1993 that trades in base metals and energy. It is the world's largest private metals trader and second-largest oil trader having built or ...
. In 1994, after failing to take control of the zinc market and losing $172 million, Rich was forced to sell his majority share in the company to Glencore International, the commodities trading and industrial company. Glencore's name is an abbreviation of "Global Energy Commodity Resources".


2005: dealings with "rogue states"

The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...
's
Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...
reported in 2005 that Glencore "has been accused of illegal dealings with
rogue state "Rogue state" (or sometimes "outlaw state") is a term applied by some international theorists to states that they consider threatening to the world's peace. These states meet certain criteria, such as being ruled by authoritarian or totalitari ...
s:
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
South Africa,
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, and
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
under
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
", and has a "history of busting UN embargoes to profit from corrupt or despotic regimes". Specifically, the CIA found that Glencore had paid $3,222,780 in illegal
kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickbac ...
to obtain oil in the course of the UN
oil-for-food programme The Oil-for-Food Programme (OIP), established by the United Nations in 1995 (under UN Security Council Resolution 986) was established to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs f ...
for
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. The company denied these charges, according to the CIA report quoted by ABC.


2005–2011: Glencore, Dan Gertler, and the Congo

In 2005, proceeds from an oil sale to Glencore were seized as fraudulent gains as part of an investigation into corruption in the
Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
. In 2007, Nikanor was merged into Katanga in a transaction valued at US$3.3 billion. In May 2011, the company launched an IPO which valued the business at US$61 billion and created five new billionaires. Trading was limited to institutional investors for the first week and private investors were not allowed to buy shares until 24 May 2011.


2011: financial and accounting manipulations

In 2011, five non-government organisations filed a complaint to the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...
against a subsidiary of Glencore over allegations that a mine it owns in
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
may not be paying enough tax on its profits. This complaint was due to alleged financial and accounting manipulations that had been supposedly performed by the two companies' subsidiary, Mopani Copper Mines Plc (MCM), to evade taxation in Zambia. A draft Grant Thornton report alleged that tax avoidance by Glencore in Zambia cost the Zambian Government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The avoidance was allegedly facilitated through
transfer pricing In taxation and accounting, transfer pricing refers to the rules and methods for pricing transactions within and between enterprises under common ownership or control. Because of the potential for cross-border controlled transactions to distort ...
and inflated costs at Glencore's
Mopani Copper Mine Mopani Copper Mines PLC ("Mopani") is a Zambian registered company 100% owned by ZCCM Investment Holdings. Mopani Copper Mines PLC was previously owned by Carlisa Investments Corporation (a joint venture company comprising Glencore Internatio ...
, which is controlled through the
British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...
, a recognised tax haven. Glencore and its own auditor,
Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...
, rejected these allegations. As of 2013, Glencore’s payments to Zambia’s government had increased. Due to weak global prices for the assets Glencore owned, particularly coal and copper producers, and for the commodities in which Glencore traded, the company showed a net operating loss of $676 million for the first half of 2015, and the company’s stocks fell, as a result. Concerns cited by financial analysts to explain the falling stock price included a weak global commodity market and Glencore's high level of debt, $30 billion. The company reduced its debt by selling off stock and assets.


2011: associations with other mining companies

Along with several other major coal producers, Glencore is also a large shareholder in globalCOAL, the online physical coal trading platform. The board of globalCOAL contains a number of power utility shareholders. Relationships also exist with
Century Aluminum Century Aluminum Company () is a US-based producer of primary aluminium, with aluminum plants in Kentucky, South Carolina and Iceland. It is the largest producer of primary aluminium in the United States. The company is a publicly held corporation ...
Co. (CENX; 44% economic ownership interest)Lesova, Polya
"Commodities giant Glencore readies landmark IPO: Listing may value firm at,0 billion, give it cash for acquisitions"
''
MarketWatch MarketWatch is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. Along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and '' Barron's'', it is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp. Histo ...
'', 13 April 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
) in the US; Glencore partial subsidiary Minara Resources Ltd (AU:MRE), a 70.5% stake in one of Australia's top three nickel producers); and 8.8% in United Company Rusal (HK:486), the Russian aluminium giant that went public in 2010. In mid-2011, Century was called "one of the most harrowing stocks of the past few years" but identified as a risky but potentially profitable investment for the future.


2011–2012: initial public offering

Glencore was the subject of an
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
(IPO) in May 2011 in a dual listing in London and Hong Kong valued at about $US60 billion. The 1,637-page document revealed invaluable information about this private company that has remained discreet for thirty-seven years.
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 ...
's shareholding was diluted from 18.1% before the IPO percent to 15.8% afterwards. Daniel Mate and
Telis Mistakidis Aristotelis Mistakidis (born 1962) is a Swiss-based Greek metals trader who became a billionaire working for Glencore. He has joint Greek/British citizenship. Early life Aristotelis Mistakidis was born in Rome, Italy, where his marine biologist ...
, zinc, copper, and lead co-directors were diluted from 6.9% to 6%. Glencore went public to raise gross proceeds of around $10 billion. According to Reuters, Glencore is known for its "opportunistic but lucrative acquisition strategy." In May 2011,
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
state-owned
Aabar Investments Mubadala Investment Company PJSC ( ar, شركة مبادلة للاستثمار), or simply Mubadala, is an Emirati state-owned holding company that acts as a sovereign wealth fund. The company was established in 2017 when then-named Mubadala Dev ...
confirmed an investment of $850 million in Glencore International plc as a cornerstone investor with an intention to invest an additional $150 million in the Global Offer. The investment made Aabar the largest cornerstone investor in the initial public offering (IPO) and the largest new shareholder of Glencore after its IPO, giving Aabar a 1.4% stake. The two firms intend to explore areas of co-operation. In November 2012, Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments, a unit of Abu Dhabi's state-owned United Arab Emirates
International Petroleum Investment Company Mubadala Investment Company PJSC ( ar, شركة مبادلة للاستثمار), or simply Mubadala, is an Emirati state-owned holding company that acts as a sovereign wealth fund. The company was established in 2017 when then-named Mubadala De ...
, wrote off more than $392-million of its $1-billion investment into Glencore's IPO less than two years after investing it. Aabar Investments was the largest new shareholder in Glencore.


2012–2013: merger with Xstrata

Prior to its merger with
Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...
, Glencore is reported to have served as a marketing partner for the company. As of 2006, Glencore leaders and Ivan Glasenberg were on the board of Xstrata, which Strothotte chaired. According to ''The Sunday Times'', by 2006, Glencore controlled 40% of Xstrata stock and appointed Xstrata CEO,
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 ...
. In February 2012, Glencore International Plc, agreed to buy
Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...
Plc for 39.1 billion (US$62 billion) in shares. Glencore offered 2.8 new shares for each Xstrata share in agreed all-share "merger of equal". It is the biggest mining takeover ever, and after approval would create an entity with 2012 sales of US$209 billion. In June 2012, Glencore and Xstrata began to reconsider the proposed retention package for their merger, following 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 October 2012,
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...
reported that Glencore had more ships than the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. Glencore's operations in 40 countries handled 3% of the world's oil consumption. Xstrata's operations in more than 20 countries employed 70,000 people. According to mining analyst John Meyer, if the two companies merged into Glencore Xstrata, they would be the 4th largest commodities trader in the world. Just before completing its forced April 2013 takeover of mining rival Xstrata as it awaited Chinese regulatory approval for its long-planned merger, the world's largest diversified commodities trader, the annual income of Glencore fell 25% percent, as its trading division offset the impact of weak commodity prices. Including the impact of an impairment related to a reclassification of its holding in Russian aluminium producer RUSAL, net income fell 75%. On 2 May 2013, it completed the merger with Xstrata. On 20 May 2014, Glencore Xstrata changed its name to Glencore plc. After the merger with Glencore, Xstrata CFO Trevor Reid announced that he would no longer work as employee but would become a consultant. After 11 years of involvement, this marked a massive shift in the company's strategy and Xstrata was entering a post-Reid era.


Investments


Canada

GlencoreXstrata operates a mine in
Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...
. In October 2020, Glencore provided $10 million in
bridge financing A bridge loan is a type of short-term loan, typically taken out for a period of 2 weeks to 3 years pending the arrangement of larger or longer-term financing. It is usually called a bridging loan in the United Kingdom, also known as a "caveat loan, ...
to Falco Resources, a gold and copper miner operating in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
.


Colombia

In 2006, Swiss public television ( TSR) reported that allegations of corruption and severe human rights violations were being raised against Glencore due to the alleged conduct of its Colombian
Cerrejón Cerrejón is a large open-pit coal mine in Northern Colombia owned by Glencore. At Cerrejón, low-ash, low-sulphur bituminous coal from the Cerrejón Formation is excavated. At over the mine is one of the largest of its type, the largest in Lati ...
mining subsidiary. Local union president Francisco Ramirez accused Cerrejón of forced expropriations and evacuations of entire villages to enable mine expansion, in complicity with Colombian authorities. A representative of the local
Wayuu The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayúu, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family. Geography ...
Indians also accused Colombian paramilitary and military units, including those charged with Cerrejón mining security, of forcibly driving the Wayuu off their land in what she described as a "massacre". In 2012, a BBC investigation uncovered sale documents showing the company had paid the associates of paramilitary killers in Colombia. In 2011, a Colombian court was told by former paramilitaries that they stole the land so they could sell it to Glencore's subsidiary Prodeco, to start an open-cast coal mine; the court accepted their evidence and concluded that coal was the motive for the massacre. Glencore disputed the court's ruling. In 2009, Glencore/Xstrata's "huge coal operation in Colombia, Prodeco, was fined a total of nearly $700,000 for several environmental violations unning in earlier years including waste disposal without a permit and producing coal without an environmental management plan". Glencore/Xstrata's activities in Colombia under their subsidiary, Prodeco, was investigated by the Netherlands-based NGO, Pax for Peace. They found that "From 1996 to 2006, residents of the Cesar mining region of Colombia, from which European power utilities source most of their coal, have suffered greatly from paramilitary violence ... Prodeco mining companies have supported the paramilitary forces with finance, equipment, and information. The mining companies deny any involvement, but those victims of human rights violations who stand up for their rights, are still being threatened." The coal mined by Prodeco is termed "Blood Coal." Pax released a report and included the testimony of victims and the paramilitary that attacked the indigenous population.


Ecuador

"In
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
, the current government has tried to reduce the role played by middlemen such as Glencore with state oil company Petroecuador" due to questions about transparency and follow-through, according to Fernando Villavicencio, a Quito-based oil sector analyst.


Zambia

According to a Reuters article in 2011 " ficials in Zambia believe pollution from Glencore's Mopani mine is causing
acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but ac ...
and health problems in an area where 5 million people live." The upgrade of the Mopani Mines asset plant was completed in March 2014 eliminating the emissions of 97 per cent of sulphur dioxide emissions in line with the recommended international standards by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The emissions were reported to exceed the WHO-recommendations by a factor of 70 up to 2013. The emissions now exceed the recommendations by 3% of 70 = 210%. In January 2019, a delegation from the
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten, french: Département fédéral des affaires étrangères, it, Dipartimento federale degli affari esteri, rm, ), so name ...
under the leadership of
Ignazio Cassis Ignazio Daniele Giovanni Cassis (; born 13 April 1961) is a Swiss physician and politician who has served as President of the Swiss Confederation since 1 January 2022. A member of FDP. The Liberals, he has been a Member of the Swiss Federal Cou ...
made a controversial visit to the Mopani Copper Mines that also produce cobalt ores. The Swiss government had previously issued human rights guidelines for firms operating in the commodity sector, which is of strategic importance to both countries. The visit was heavily criticised by
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
and Swiss watchdog groups while the federal councilor defended his stance, pointing out the modernisation of production facilities, improved health care and better training for young workers.


Brazil

In June 2018 Glencore purchased a 78% stake in Ale Combustíveis S.A., a Brazilian fuel distribution company. Through Ale Glencore aimed to expand its fuel distribution network by forging agreements with unbranded gas stations.


Democratic Republic of the Congo

The company's Luilu copper refinery uses acid to extract the copper. For three years after taking over the mine, it continued to allow the waste acid to flow into a river. The chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, was interviewed for
Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined i ...
by John Sweeney and said 'It was impossible to remedy any way faster' Glencore said the pollution started long before the company took over the refinery and that it has now ended. A reporter for ''The Guardian'' found children as young as ten years underground at the
Tilwezembe Tilwezembe is an open-pit copper and cobalt mine in Lualaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo owned by Katanga Mining, a subsidiary of Glencore. Officially, Glencore has shuttered the mine, but the site is still being used by artis ...
mine, which the company had said in a 2008 prospectus that it had closed due to falling copper prices. Prices rebounded later. CEO Glasenberg said the company does not profit from
child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
, and the child miners went with
artisanal mining An artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM) is a subsistence miner who is not officially employed by a mining company, but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand. Small-scale mining includes enterprises ...
by nearby residents that Glencore was trying to prevent. But ''Panorama'' tracked a shipment of copper from the mine to Groupe Bazano plant and from that plant to a Glencore
smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...
in
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
. Glencore was also accused of acquiring illicit "
conflict minerals The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a history of conflict, where various armies, rebel groups, and outside actors have profited from mining while contributing to violence and exploitation during wars in the region. The four mai ...
" In a detailed letter sent to Global Witness, the company denied any wrongdoing. Glencore acquired stakes in the Kansuki mine in Congo's southern
Katanga Province Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, ...
in 2012. According to Global Witness, Congo's government transferred a 75% stake in Kansuki mine in secret and at vastly undervalued prices in July 2010 to a company in which Dan Gertler, who is a close friend of President
Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Pres ...
, has an interest. Just a month later, in August 2010, Glencore took half the shares of the company that acquired that 75% stake, becoming the operator of the mine. Glencore is financing the entire development of the Kansuki mine, thereby carrying the costs for the other partner companies, which are associated with Mr. Gertler. Glencore said at the time "During the period when these transactions took place, Glencore had decided in general not to increase its shareholdings in DRC projects." Glencore acquired a 50% share in SAMREF Congo SPRL in 2007, a Congolese-registered company holding 80% of the Mutanda Mine. According to Global Witness, SAMREF recommended on 1 March 2011 that Congo's state-run company
Gécamines La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) is a Congolese commodity trading and mining company headquartered in Lubumbashi, in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a state-controlled corporation founded ...
, holding the other 20% of the Mutanda Mine, sell this share to an entity also associated with Dan Gertler and went on to question the links between Glencore and Dan Gertler. Glencore has been designated operator of the Mutanda Mine. Glencore has responded a number of times to Global Witness regarding these allegations. In March 2018, it was reported that Glencore would sell one third (13,800 tonnes) of its cobalt output to China's battery recycler GEM. 18,000 tonnes are to be sold in 2019, and 21,000 in 2020. In December 2020, the company extended the agreement with GEM to at least 2029. During the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, CEO Glasenberg stated "if cobalt falls into the hands of the Chinese, yeah you won’t see EVs being produced in Europe etc." Yet, Glasenberg then said that he was prepared to sell DRC cobalt mines to China if the price was good. Concurrently, a Chinese take-over of some of the mines became a real possibility due to a legal dispute about royalty payments to Gertler and Gécamines. The DRC supplies 60% of the world's cobalt ore, while China produces more than 80% of the world’s refined cobalt. In December 2018, Bloomberg reported that the Chinese battery firm GEM withdrew from its purchase contract with the commodities trader due to a price crash and oversupply of cobalt ore and recycled sources. In November 2018, export stopped due to oversupply and uranium contamination at the Kamoto Project; the company planned to fix this with a US$25 million ion-exchange refining plant. In a June 2018 "debt-for-equity swap", Glencore's
Katanga Mining Katanga Mining Ltd was a mining company operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with its headquarters in Canada. Katanga Mining operated a major mine complex in the Congo's Katanga Province, producing refined copper and cobalt. It cl ...
Ltd. agreed to a recapitalization plan involving a US$5.6 billion debt write-off and a $150 million payment to the Congolese state mining company Gécamines. According to company sources, Gertler will receive a royalty of about 25 million euros in 2018. Later in June 2018, Glencore also announced that it had resumed paying royalties to Gertler's Ventora Development in unpaid and future royalties from the subsidiaries Mutanda Mining ($695 million) and Kamoto Copper Co ($2.28 billion). Gertler had sued Glencore in a Congolese court after payments stopped when he was sanctioned by the U.S. government in December 2017. The mines produce
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
and
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
, needed for lithium-ion batteries in mobile devices and electric vehicles. Glencore and Gertler were in a legal dispute, threatening the strategic supply of the metals and ownership of the mining entities. Glencore paid the royalties in a currency other than dollars to skirt sanctions and discussed the deal with Swiss and U.S. authorities. Glencore also settled a dispute involving the Kamoto copper and cobalt mine, but differences remain about tax and royalty payment. In July 2018, the DRC enforced a new mining code, which forced Glencore to pay higher taxes. In response, the company began talks with the Congolese government. In August, CEO Glasberg announced that Glencore was considering legal action. On 22 June 2021, the company reported the Mutanda mine would be reopened towards the end of 2021 and return to production in 2022. Earlier, Glencore officials discussed the re-opening of the mine with Congo's mining ministry in
Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of ...
. Cobalt prospects for the company increased significantly since the inception of a long-term battery supply contract with Tesla Motors in mid-2020. From 2007 to 2018, Glencore paid $27.5 million to third parties to bribe government officials in Congo. In December 2022, the company agreed to pay $180 million to Congo to settle the case.


Western Sahara

In 2013 and 2014, a subsidiary of Glencore Xstrata was awarded two offshore drilling licences off the coast of occupied
Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...
. The licences were awarded in clear violation of international law, as described by the UN in 2002.


Paradise Papers

On 5 November 2017, the
Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche ...
, a set of confidential
electronic documents An electronic document is any electronic media content (other than computer programs or system files) that is intended to be used in either an electronic form or as printed output. Originally, any computer data were considered as something int ...
relating to
offshore investment Offshore investment is the keeping of money in a jurisdiction other than one's country of residence. Offshore jurisdictions are used to pay less tax in many countries by large and small-scale investors. Poorly regulated offshore domiciles have ser ...
, revealed that Glencore loaned $45 million to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler in exchange for his help with officials of the
Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
in negotiations over a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
with state-owned
Gécamines La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) is a Congolese commodity trading and mining company headquartered in Lubumbashi, in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a state-controlled corporation founded ...
at the Katanga copper mine, in which one of the board members was Glencore major shareholder
Telis Mistakidis Aristotelis Mistakidis (born 1962) is a Swiss-based Greek metals trader who became a billionaire working for Glencore. He has joint Greek/British citizenship. Early life Aristotelis Mistakidis was born in Rome, Italy, where his marine biologist ...
. Glencore, which had effectively taken over Katanga, agreed to vote for the joint venture. The loan document specifically provided that repayment would be owed if agreement was not reached within three months. Gertler and Glencore have denied wrongdoing. Appleby had worked for Glencore and its founder
Marc Rich Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier, businessman, and financial criminal. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later ind ...
on major projects in the past, even after his indictment in 1983. Rich was indicted in the United States on federal charges of
tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
and making controversial oil deals with Iran during the
Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over ...
. He received a controversial presidential pardon from U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
on 20 January 2001, Clinton's last day in office. The Australian branch of Glencore has been demonstrated to have carried out some $25 billion in cross-currency interest rate swaps, complex financial instruments the
Australian Taxation Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuatio ...
suspects of being used to avoid paying taxes in Australia. Glencore is also a co-owner of large coal freighters fleet SwissMarine.


Reactions to U.S. sanctions

In April 2018, the company started to limit its exposure to
Oleg Deripaska Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian billionaire and an industrialist. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in ...
by canceling the plan to swap an 8.75 percent stake in aluminum producer United Co. Rusal for shares in another one of Deripaska’s companies, London-listed
En+ Group En or EN may refer to: Businesses * Bouygues (stock symbol EN) * Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (reporting mark EN, but now known as Southern Railway of Vancouver Island) * Euronews, a news television and internet channel Language and writing * E ...
Plc. The commodities trader also announced that Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg had resigned from Rusal’s board. In March 2022, the company leadership strongly condemned the
2022 Russian invasion of the Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
; it would "review business activities in the country including our equity stakes in En+ and
Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petro ...
.” Glencore owns a 10.55% stake in En+ Group International PJSC, the controlling shareholder of aluminum giant United Co. Rusal International, and less than 1% in Rosneft. The company also stated it had "no operational footprint in Russia." British news outlets, however, noted that Swiss-based Glencore, among other commodity companies, loaded cargoes of oil products onto tankers at Russian ports in mid-March 2022. While some oil companies such as BP Plc and
Shell Plc Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
were pressured to halt Russian oil purchases, Glencore remained in the lucrative business for trading Russian crude.


Investigation by U.S. Department of Justice

On 3 July 2018, the company announced that it received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice "to produce documents and other records with respect to compliance with the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applicable worl ...
and the United States money laundering statutes". The requested documents relate to the Glencore Group’s business in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Venezuela from 2007 to present. In May 2018, Bloomberg reported that Britain's Serious Fraud Office may also open a bribery investigation into Glencore's dealing with Dan Gertler and DRC President
Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Pres ...
. On 24 May 2022, Glencore pleaded guilty to multiple counts of bribery and agreed to pay penalties of about $1.5 billion.


''International Rights Advocates v. Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Tesla''

The International Rights Advocates groups filed a lawsuit, ''
International Rights Advocates v. Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Tesla International Rights Advocates, Inc., filed an injunctive relief and damages class-action lawsuit against Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and Tesla in December 2019. The plaintiff was representing fourteen Congolese parents and children seeking relief and ...
'', on 15 December 2019 against
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
,
Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
, and Tesla that names Glencore. The lawsuit claims that the named companies benefited from and aided and abetted child labor in mining companies' cobalt operations. It is argued that Glencore-owned mines sold cobalt to
Umicore Umicore N.V.. formerly '' Union Minière'', is a multinational materials technology company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Formed in 1989 by the merger of four companies in the mining and smelting industries, Umicore has since reshaped ...
, which then sold the cobalt to be used in lithium batteries in Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and Tesla products. Glencore released a statement through a spokesperson noting the allegations and stating that " lencoredoes not tolerate any form of child, forced, or compulsory labour." The case was dismissed, and International Rights Advocates appealed in 2022.


U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission investigation

In April 2019 the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent agency of the US government created in 1974 that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, which includes futures, swaps, and certain kinds of options. The Commodity Exchange Act ...
notified the company of an investigation into whether the company violated parts of the Commodity Exchange Act, or regulations concerning corrupt practices related to commodities. In May 2022, Glencore pled guilty to charges of corrupt dealings with foreign governments, and agreed to pay a $1.8 billion fine. The corrupt practices occurred from 2007 to 2018, and included actions to "make and conceal corrupt payments and bribes through intermediaries for the benefit of foreign officials across multiple countries". In August 2020, Glencore suspended its dividend payments to investors, saying it will instead prioritise paying down its debt in the immediate term. It was the first major mining company to shelve its dividend owing to the business impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.


Long-term supply contract with Tesla

In June 2020, it was reported that Tesla Motors partnered with Glencore for the future supply of cobalt in their lithium-ion batteries. Just a year earlier, BMW did the same with Glencore and the Bou Azzer mine in
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
. Initially Tesla wanted to eliminate the controversial metal from its battery formula, but then the company decided for its continued use, boosting cobalt prospects significantly, according to industry experts.


UK SFO charges and continued investigations

In 2022, Glencore's UK subsidiary twice pleaded guilty to corruption charges levelled by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). These charges accused Glencore of paying over of bribes between 2011 and 2016 to officials in Africa to "secure access to oil and make illicit profit". On May 24, Glencore Energy UK Limited indicated in court that it would plead guilty to five counts of bribery and two counts of failure to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act 2010. The SFO found that over in bribes were paid in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and South Sudan between 2011 and 2016 for preferential access to oil, and accused Glencore of "profit-driven bribery and corruption". Glencore executives acknowledged the "unacceptable practices" and "misconduct identified in these investigations", but argued that the company had been making efforts to improve its ethics and compliance program since before it knew of the US DOJ investigation. The company predicted that fines for the seven corruption charges would not exceed the it set aside in 2021 for resolving the investigations undertaken by various national authorities. On June 21, a British subsidiary of Glencore again pleaded guilty to seven counts of bribery. These charges pertained to oil operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and South Sudan between 2012 and 2016. The SFO found that over in bribes were paid for officials to "perform their functions improperly". Glencore again predicted that fines would not exceed the it had previously set aside. Glencore faces continued investigations from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service.


Operations

In May 2014 the company announced it would close its underground
Newlands coal mine The Newlands Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the north of the Bowen Basin at Newlands about 28 km northwest of Glenden in North Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 413 million tonnes of low ash steamin ...
in Queensland, Australia in late 2015. The mine, begun in 1983, produced 2.8 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2013. The company had earlier suspended operations at its Ravensworth underground mine following falling coal prices, escalating production costs, and a higher Australian dollar. In February 2019, Glencore announced it would reduce production at one of its biggest
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
and
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
mines operations in Congo. The country's Mutanda mine produced 199,000 tons of copper and 27,000 tons of cobalt in 2018, accounting for roughly one-fifth of global cobalt production. The production curbs are likely temporary, as the company is exploring new mining techniques for the site. In October 2020, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg argued that there was no environmental benefit in divesting from coal assets since the spun-off coal mines would likely be taken over by other players without any regard for the Paris climate goals. He instead argued for capping coal mine production, thereby running them down, and using the thus generated cash to increase the production of other raw materials in high demand due to the global energy transformation, such as
nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow t ...
, copper and cobalt. Two months later, in December 2020, Glasenberg announced that he will be retiring in 2021 thus stepping out of the CEO position after nearly 20 years. He will be succeeded by South African Gary Nagle, who is currently running the firm's coal business. Glencore said it planned to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 aiming at a 40% reduction in carbon footprint by 2035 compared to its 2019 levels, making them on track with the Paris agreement on climate change. In August 2022, the market predicted that Glencore would deliver a record profit due to its ability to thrive in volatile markets, and particularly because of its
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
business that is growing rapidly during the 2022 global energy crisis. The use of coal, even in Europe, is increasing by double digit percentages as it replaces expensive
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...
from
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
. While traditional mining companies such as BHP Group and
Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tint ...
have experienced a slowdown due to a lower demand for
iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
and
copper ore Following is a list of minerals that serve as copper ores in the copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical proces ...
s by China, Glencore was able to increase its business mostly with coal, despite the dirty image this form of energy has. Business analysts forecast that Glencore's dividends could exceed $10 billion in total in 2022.


Lobbying

On 6 March 2019, ''The Guardian Australia'' accused Glencore, aided by consulting firm CT Group, of engaging in a large-scale, globally coordinated lobbying campaign to promote coal use "by undermining environmental activists, influencing politicians and spreading sophisticated pro-coal messaging on social media." The campaign was started in 2017 and ran until 2019, when it was shut down in February, according to Glencore.


Board of directors

As of October 2021: * Kalidas Madhavpeddi (non-executive chairman) * Gary Nagle (CEO) * Peter Coates (non-executive director) * Martin Gilbert (non-executive director) *
Gill Marcus Gill Marcus (born 10 August 1949) is a former Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, being the ninth person and the first and only woman to hold the position. Life and career Early years Marcus was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He ...
(non-executive director) * Patrice Merrin (non-executive director) * Cynthia Carroll (non-executive director) * David Wormsley (non-executive director)


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

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