Glencore's and Rio Tinto’s mining operations

A person familiar with this matter stated that Glencore had approached Rio Tinto in late 2013 about merging the two major copper producers. However, the talks are no longer ongoing.

Both companies declined to make any comment. The merger could be the biggest ever in the mining sector.

Here are some details about the businesses and assets of these companies:

GLENCORE is a London-listed company that produces lead, nickel, zinc, copper, and cobalt. Its biggest revenue-generating metals are copper and zinc, which the miner expects to produce 1 million metric tons of in 2023.

Glencore's assets in copper are concentrated mainly in Chile, Peru, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Australia, it has zinc, nickel and cobalt operations.

The trading division deals with coal, oil and liquefied gas, as well as other products, as well as metals. In 2023, the business will generate around one third of its operating profit.

The market value is approximately $55 billion. It made $4.3 billion net profit last year on revenues of $217 billion.

RIO TINTO RIO TINTO is the world's No. Iron ore, aluminum, and copper are among the top metals that Rio Tinto mines.

The Pilbara region in Western Australia is the largest producer of iron ore, and its operations are crucial to global steel production.

Last year, it produced 328 million tonnes iron ore and 697,000 tons of copper.

Rio is working to increase production at the Oyu Tolgoi Copper Mine in Mongolia. This mine has one of the largest known copper and gold deposits on earth. The company expects to mine copper at an average of 500,000 tonnes per annum between 2028 and 2030. It has a $103 billion market value. It made a $10 billion net profit on $54 billion in revenue last year.

(source: Reuters)