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

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

, Switzerland and with its registered office in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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; it has Symbol (chemistry), 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 ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It 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 periodic tabl ...

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 glo ...

. 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 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

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 the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...

. 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 ...

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 Zürich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being BX Swiss). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other security (finance), securities such as Swiss government bonds and deriv ...

. 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: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list has been published annually since 2003. By country Forbes Global 2000 as of 2023: ...

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

Glencore Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas headquarters are in London, London, England as well a ...

. 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 Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodity, commodities Trader (finance), trader, financier, and businessman. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later indicted in the ...

+ Co AG became its majority shareholder. In the 1990s it diversified into mining and disposed of its non-core businesses.

Mick Davis Sir Michael Lawrence Davis (born 15 February 1958) is a British-South African businessman, financier, philanthropist, and former politician. Davis was the chief executive (CEO) of Xstrata plc, an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company, until ...

was appointed CEO of Xstrata in 2001, and it was first listed on the

in 2002 at which time it acquired

's coal assets in Australia and South Africa. Glencore controlled 40% of Xstrata stock in 2001. In 2003, Xstrata 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, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

, 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 Nickel Mines Limited, and from 1982 onwards Falconbridge Limited, was a Canadian mining company that existed from 1928 to 2007. It had operations in 18 countries, and was involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketin ...

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

. Following a contested take-over battle with

Inco Limited Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale (mining company), Vale. Va ...

, Xstrata acquired the remaining 80.1% of Falconbridge in August 2006. In 2006, The

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

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 Aus ...

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 Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the region – the Yanyuwa, Marra,

Garrawa The Garrwa people, also spelt Karawa and Garawa, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the Northern Territory, whose traditional lands extended from east of the McArthur River at Borroloola to Doomadgee and the Nicholson River (Queenslan ...

and

Gurdanji Wambaya is a Non-Pama-Nyungan West Barkly Australian language of the Mirndi language groupNordlinger, Rachel. (1998), ''A Grammar Of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia),'' p. 1. that is spoken in the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Terri ...

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 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 before, during, o ...

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

, and retired Davis and his team. Xstrata Mexico, created in 2011 as a

special-purpose vehicle A special-purpose entity (SPE), also called a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or a financial vehicle corporation (FVC), is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, speci ...

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 a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

. 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 New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, 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 Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content. It is made by heating coal or petroleum in the absence of air. Coke is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ore smelting, but also as a fuel in stoves ...

, 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; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

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 coal mine controversy

In 2007 Xstrata Coal bought the

Mangoola coal mine The Mangoola coal mine, formerly known as the Anvill Hill coal mine is a coal mine in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. History The project was developed by Centennial Coal. The mine provides coal mostly for the production of ele ...

in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

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 mines in world history, based on co ...

was approved by the government of Queensland

Relationship with Glencore

When

was appointed CEO of Xstrata in 2001, Glencore controlled 40% of Xstrata stock.See als
Xstrata: Investor disclosure
, accessed 22 October 2006 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. He was the company's CEO from 2002 to 2021. Glasenberg ...

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 A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, re ...

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 created 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 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 Nickel mining companies of Canada Defunct mining companies of Canada