Mining M&A slips as companies lawyer-up to fight regulators 

Global mining dealmaking is falling this year but political drama and litigation are escalating in the United States and Canada, while other trends include paying premiums to get copper and guarding against liability at former mine sites.  

The value of proposed, pending, completed and terminated mergers and acquisitions in the industry declined 12.5% to US$74.2 billion this year to mid-May compared with the same period last year, according to Bloomberg data. The figures were presented at a May 20-22 conference in New York run by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration.  

Bids valued at US$51.2 billion to acquire Anglo American (LSE: AAL), including US$39.6 billion by BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) and US$10.9 billion in a proposal with undisclosed details by Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO), dominate the total, the data show.  

M&A across all industries rose 16%, Todd Sibilla, a commodity applications specialist at Bloomberg, told the conference. But deals with diversified miners, like Glencore (LSE: GLEN) buying Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) coal assets last year, plunged 94% this year compared with 2023, Sibilla said.  

The Canadian uproar last year over Glencore’s interest in buying Teck, while the Swiss giant employs more Canadians than homegrown Teck, was cited as an example of a rising trend of misguided resource nationalism leading to court cases over blocked deals, according to a panel of lawyers at the annual conference on trends in mining finance. The panel also pointed to the bipartisan opposition in America to Nippon Steel buying U.S. Steel while Japan is a major Western ally.