Xstrata is a major global diversified mining group. Xstrata maintains a meaningful position in six major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, vanadium and zinc, with additional exposures to gold, lead and silver. The Groups operations and projects span four continents and seven countries: Australia, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Peru and the UK.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Coal:       42%
Copper:    25%
Zinc:       18%
Chrome:   10%
Vanadium: 4%
Others:     1%

Part of the Morgan Stanley note:
"Our highest-conviction commodity exposures are in Base (copper, nickel and tin) and Precious Metals (gold, silver and palladium) in the short term. We expect Bulk commodities to trade in narrow ranges close to current prices over the coming quarter, and our preferred exposure here is iron ore and thermal coal. Our highest conviction Overweight equities include: Implats Limited, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Mechel."

Xstrata to join forces with Glencore.

Anglo-Swiss mining group Xstrata confirmed today that it has received an approach from and is in discussions with Glencore International regarding an all share merger of equals which may or may not lead to an offer being made by Glencore for Xstrata.

The group said in a brief statement that there can be no certainty that any offer will be made.

In accordance with Rule 2.6 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, Glencore is now required, by no later than 5:00 p.m. on 1st March 2012, to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the Company in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies.

Any further announcement will be made as appropriate, Xstrata said.

for all this, you wouldn't have wanted to be holding these even for say the last year, for XTA really has underperformed badly

Recommended All-Share Merger of Equals

RECOMMENDED ALL-SHARE MERGER OF EQUALS OF
GLENCORE INTERNATIONAL PLC AND XSTRATA PLC
TO CREATE UNIQUE $90 BILLION NATURAL RESOURCES GROUP

Xstrata hikes dividend

Anglo-Swiss mining group Xstrata This morning reported operating EBITDA of $11.6bn for the year to end-December, up 12% on the previous year.

Attributable profit was $5.8bn, up 12%.

A final dividend of 27¢ per share is proposed, bringing the full year dividend to 40¢, a 60% increase on 2010.

Operational performance:

o Key organic growth milestones reached with ten projects and expansions completed during 2011

o Strong second half production with record annual production of coal and nickel

o Real cost savings of $391 million, moving all commodity businesses into lower half of industry cost curves

o Expansion of mineral resource base, including significant additional copper resource

o Six bolt-on acquisitions supplementing growth

o Continued improvement in safety and environmental performance; 26% improvement in total recordable injuries versus 2010

o Dow Jones Sustainability Index Sector Leader for fifth consecutive year

This come amid a recommended all-share merger between Glencore and Xstrata to create a major $90bn natural resources group with a unique business model, fully integrated along the commodities value chain, from mining and processing, storage, freight and logistics, to marketing and sales.

Xstrata to lift copper, iron ore mining in Australia

SYDNEY | Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:48am BST

(Reuters) - Global miner Xstrata (XTA.L) will boost copper production in Australia by 140,000 tonnes over the next five years from a new mine, which will also yield more than a half-million tonnes of iron ore, the company said on Tuesday.

Glencore offers no Xstrata clues as profit falls

LONDON | Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:29am BST

(Reuters) - Commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L) stuck to its guns on a $30 billion (19 billion pounds) bid for miner Xstrata (XTA.L) on Tuesday, as it reported earnings for the first half of 2012 dragged down 26 percent by weaker commodity prices.

Glencore said its first half profit net of significant items fell to $1.81 billion, down from $2.44 billion a year ago and marginally above analysts' expectations of $1.6 billion, according to consensus forecasts.

Its operating profit fell 24 percent to almost $2.51 billion, again topping forecasts.

Glencore, already the single largest shareholder in Xstrata with a 34 percent stake, announced in February it would bid for the stock it does not already own, offering 2.8 new shares for every Xstrata share held. It has met with resistance, however, from Qatar Holding, Xstrata's second-largest investor, which in June demanded a ratio of 3.25. (Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Andrew Callus)

..Sir John Bond urged to step down after 'failure' of £45bn Glenstrata deal

By Emma Rowley | Telegraph –

Sir John Bond, chairman of Xstrata (Dusseldorf: XTR.DU - news) , is under pressure from his shareholders to step down in the wake of the miner's faltering £45bn merger with commodity giant Glencore, which is expected to be voted down this week.

Ahead of Friday's shareholder vote on the deal, unhappy Xstrata investors have questioned how the City grandee can stay in the role with the board-backed merger expected to fail.

Knight Vinke, the activist investor which holds around 0.5pc of Xstrata, on Friday issued a statement in which it said if the deal collapses it will agitate for a change in the board's make-up to make it more "independent and robust". The Sunday Telegraph understands the fund is scrutinising the roles of the chairman, Sir John, as well as David Rough, the senior independent non-executive, amid concerns as to how they have fulfilled their role of standing up to management to represent the interests of smaller shareholders.

Neil Dwane, chief investment officer for Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) at Allianz Global Investors, a minority shareholder in Xstrata, said the board does not appear to have fought sufficiently for a higher offer, even after a key investor, Qatar Holding, emerged demanding a better deal.

"The chairman and CEO have frequently in meetings argued for the deal despite shareholder disappointment," he said. "So one might conclude that the company will need a new chairman to start with and maybe other new non-execs."

Xstrata is thought to contest criticism of its board, believing that if Glencore let the deal collapse that would indicate board members did get the best offer possible for shareholders. The miner also structured the deal through a scheme of arrangement that needs 75pc of those entitled to vote to approve the deal.

Qatar Holding, the second biggest investor in Xstrata after Glencore, threw the FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) tie-up off course with its demands that the commodity trader raise its offer from the 2.8 of its shares for each Xstrata share.

With Glencore understood to question the logic of the Qataris' valuation and adamant it will walk away from a bad deal, a last-minute bump to save the merger looks unlikely. Despite this, the City has not yet written off the chance of the merger happening.

Shares in Xstrata and Glencore both rose on Friday, almost 6pc and 8pc respectively, which broker sources said was driven by merger arbitrage funds hedge funds that make money by betting on M&A going long on Xstrata and shorting Glencore.

Their buying was said to represent a bet that Glencore will bump its offer in the next few days. The short interest in Glencore was mitigated by buying by institutional investors as it is reweighted in share indices to reflect its increased free float

XTA should be 1050p, given the price of Glen. Too cheap imo.

ahoj --- Glencore/Xstrata deal if aproved values xstrata at 1034p

The major shareholder, who was originally opposed, agreed yesterday.
(Glen @ 345) x 3.05 = 1052 per xta

well their you go, wish i had put my spare 10k into xta instead of tesco for the divi last week !!!!
suppose its not to late, when do you have to hold by to get the glen shares?

Sorry, No idea. But I know that high food prices improves revenue for Glen, and the profit will beat easily. XTA worth the price and should move well above 1200 by the day if not by the end of this year!! ALL IMO