Rio and Glencore are in talks about an all-share combination that would create a US$200-plus billion mining giant.
A statement by Rio Tinto last week noted the announcement by Glencore and confirm that Rio Tinto and Glencore have been engaging in preliminary discussions about a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger between Rio Tinto and Glencore. The parties’ current expectation is that any merger transaction would be effected through the acquisition of Glencore by Rio Tinto by way of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement.
Glencore made a similar statement confirming it is in preliminary discussions with Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited (together, “Rio Tinto”) about a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger between Rio Tinto and Glencore. The parties’ current expectation is that any merger transaction would be effected through the acquisition of Glencore by Rio Tinto by way of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement.
Mining industry journal Fat Tail Daily says the goal is a dominant copper position just as demand surges from renewables, EVs, AI data centres and grid upgrades.
Copper is the prize because it sits at the junction of three powerful trends: decarbonisation, re-industrialisation and the AI build-out.
Glencore’s Mt Isa Mines has come under close scutiny for threatening to close Mt Isa copper smelter and holding the federal and state governments over a barrel for a $300m bailout but with copper prices surging and a possible merger with Rio Glencores threats and demands have become somewhat puerile.
Copper is up to around US$6 per pound that’s all-time high territory.
AI data centres are a big part of this.
A study of Microsoft’s Chicago facility found it used about 2,177 tonnes of copper or roughly 27 tonnes per megawatt of applied power.
High-end AI racks draw four to six times the power of traditional servers, driving much heavier copper busbars and power distribution units.
Cooling systems account for about 40% of copper usage in AI-focused data centres.
Copper saturates the EV ecosystem too.
A typical battery-electric car contains around 80–83 kilograms of copper.
Then you have the charging network.
Each charger adds roughly 0.7 kilograms of copper for a slow 3.3 kW unit and up to 8 kilograms for a 200 kW fast charger.
In short: Rio knows its future cannot hang on iron ore alone.
Glencore brings a huge copper portfolio across the DRC, Zambia and South America, while Rio contributes Oyu Tolgoi and Resolution.
The logic is simple: lock up copper now, before supply deficits bite harder later in the decade.
Zinc matters more than you think
Zinc will never grab headlines like copper, but it’s just as essential.
Zinc is trading at around US$3,230 per tonne, over the last 7 months, the trend is steadily up.
Source: TradingEconomics
Most of that metal stops everything else from rusting.
Global zinc use is primarily tied up in galvanisation processes (60%).
Zinc is a corrosion insurance policy for steel.
Think bridge girders, transmission towers, solar frames, offshore wind foundations.
Construction accounts for about half of global zinc demand, with transport and broader infrastructure soaking up much of the rest.
More importantly, Zinc is leveraged to many of the same themes driving copper: grid expansion, renewable roll-outs and heavy infrastructure stimulus across Asia and the Middle East.
It’s “boring” only because demand is embedded in engineering standards.
They could call it Rio Glen. Sounds like a John Wayne movie.
Rio or Glencore? … Wot’s in a name? Blackrock, State Street and Vanguard Inc still smell the same. They can’t pull the wool over my nose.
Present company shareholders will benefit.
Our elected servants maybe.
The people, Australia’s net profit?
Did the people of Guinea benefit from Soros-Blair-Rio Tinto wheeling and dealing?
Drive past mid sized building sites in Perth and the steel is all galvanized not painted these days, the price must work out about the same but galv performs better. As for copper what happened to optic fibre, why don’t they have optic fibre right up to the processor, that’s a question.
Rotschilds’ Rio Tinto in shotgun wedding with Swissy’s Glencore is hardly a surprise, miners own WA the rest of us just live here. Rotschilds probably told Glencore to get in here because this has been pretty quick. Bunnings has been going around soaking up independent hardware stores for decades and TinCore will no doubt also aim to monopolise. We are going to be a pure company town where you will eat TinCore baked beans and like it, or go without.
Mt Isa is a dump – overpriced houses and polluted air that destroys the paint work on your car when you park outside. Back in the days of MIM, Mt Isa contributed more than half of the QLD gov’s state revenue, yet it wasn’t spent in the Isa area. Rather, it was spent on city scum in Brisbane. Goyim in Mt Isa were the biggest bunch of effeminate simps in existence – 4 guys per woman at the time, each desperately trying to wine and dine some oversized hog in the Irish Club, hobnobbing with the executives and doctors.
I hope the QLD gov blocks the expansion of the mine, forcing the dump to close for good. Nobody will miss Mt Isa. And the residents deserve it. They were screwed by their local government, by their executives and by their government. And each year they would line up, wave the flag and chant for a north QLD state. But nothing ever changed as they didn’t vote with rope.
Aussies = bovine.
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