LONDON — Glencore is pivoting to quick disposals and Democratic Republic of Congo stake-sale talks after Rio Tinto walked away Feb. 5 from merger discussions that could have created the world’s largest mining company. The Swiss miner-trader is trying to simplify its portfolio, double down on copper and reopen a coal debate it thought it had settled, Feb. 7, 2026.
Glencore turns to short-term disposals to sharpen its copper bet
With another megadeal attempt off the table — at least for now — Glencore’s next moves are expected to be smaller, faster and easier to execute. A key near-term step is a planned sale of Glencore’s 70% stake in Kazzinc, its zinc, lead and gold producer in Kazakhstan, a business analysts have valued at about $5 billion, according to Reuters’ Feb. 6 report on Glencore’s disposal plans.
For investors, the logic is simple: strip out assets that muddy valuation and recycle capital into metals tied to electrification. Glencore has argued that copper scale matters, and it is under pressure to show progress after Rio said it could not reach terms that delivered sufficient value for shareholders, while Glencore said the proposal did not adequately value its long-term copper pipeline, according to Reuters’ Feb. 5 report on the companies shelving talks.
Glencore’s DRC stake sale talks could bring in a U.S.-backed partner
At the same time, Glencore is in talks to sell a 40% stake in its Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Company operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Orion Critical Mineral Consortium. The group is backed by Orion Resource Partners and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and the discussions value the assets at about $9 billion including debt, according to Reuters’ Feb. 3 report on the negotiations.
Any deal would bring in fresh capital and share risk in one of the world’s most important copper-cobalt districts — a region where security, regulation and supply-chain politics can move markets as quickly as metal prices.
Glencore’s coal rethink returns to the agenda
Coal is still Glencore’s largest cash generator — and the company’s most persistent valuation headache. In 2024, Glencore dropped a plan to spin off the coal business after consultations with shareholders, saying it would revisit the idea only if investors asked, according to a 2024 Reuters report on Glencore’s coal decision.
With coal prices improving from recent lows, analysts are again debating whether a partial listing would unlock capital for copper growth or whether keeping coal in-house remains the cleanest way to fund the buildout.
Glencore’s copper plan faces an execution test
Glencore is asking markets to look past near-term volatility and focus on its growth pipeline. At Glencore’s Capital Markets Day 2025 update, the company reiterated its goal to reach 1.6 million metric tons of copper output by 2035. But its full-year 2025 production report put own-sourced copper output at 851,600 metric tons, down 11% from 2024 — a reminder that the rerating case depends on delivery.
History suggests the valuation debate will not disappear quickly. Rio rejected a Glencore merger approach in 2014, as described in Reuters’ 2014 report on the earlier talks. After the latest Rio setback, Glencore’s immediate challenge is to show that pruning assets and partnering selectively can lift value without waiting for the next consolidation window.
