I regularly point out the ENORMOUS difference in both operations and ETHICS between (most of) the junior miners, and (most of) the large-cap miners. Obviously there will be the occasional junior miner with a rape-and-pillage philosophy, and there will be the occasional large-cap miner who does NOT think it necessary to be EVIL in order to "maximize profits".

Generally, however, these (mostly Canadian) junior miners are good corporate citizens who are WELCOMED into local communities, and produce genuine economic benefit for the local economies - while engaging in MINIMAL environmental degradation with their operations.

Then there is Glencore...the Goldman Sachs of mining.

The BBC is alleging that is using child labour to mine one of its copper mines (in the Congo) AND that it recklessly dumped large quantities of ACID into a local river.

All that the propaganda machine could drum-up in Glencore's defense was an industry shill - who later admitted he hasn't even WATCHED the documentary.

Glencore claims that the children "broke into the mine" and are working the property without authorization. Glencore claims the mine is "temporarily shut down" - BUT admits it does plan on doing more mining in the future.

Then WHY is this mine closed at all - with copper prices well over $3.50/lb? There isn't a copper mine on EARTH which isn't profitable at that price.

In short, we have a public broadcasting entity (with no motive to lie) versus Glencore - a Mining Oligarch with a multi-BILLION dollar motive for lying AND a very flimsy defense to the accusations.




P.S. Note that there was no ORIGINAL Reuters article accusing this miner of child labour. Rather, as is typical with the propaganda machine, the only "news" they report on these incidents is the DENIAL OF WRONG-DOING by the Oligarch(s) involved.




Glencore denies employing child-labour in Congo"

af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL6...irtualBrandChannel=0

* BBC Panorama says under-18s work at Glencore mine in DRC

* CEO says workers are there without its authorisation

* Documentary also says firm responsible for environmental damage

* Company says has put in place facility to stop legacy acid problem

By Sarah Young

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Commodities trader Glencore has denied it employs under-18s working at a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying any mining at the mothballed site is without its authority.

The BBC's Panorama current affairs show, due to be broadcast on Monday, said it had footage of youngsters under the age of 18 working at a mine where Glencore owns a licence to operate.

The company, which floated last year after four decades of closely guarded privacy, said it had stopped work at the mine in 2008.

Glencore's chief executive Ivan Glasenberg said in comments released by the BBC and due to be screened on the programme that the child miners were working "against all of our authorisation".

Miners filmed by the BBC at the Tilwezembe mine were part of a group of artisanal miners who had taken over the area in 2010, Glasenberg said.

The company says it plans to resume mining at the site at some point in the future and that in the meantime it is in talks with the government to determine how best to handle what it has called an invasion by artisanal miners.

"We definitely do not profit from child labour in any part of the world. This is adhered to strictly," Glasenberg told the programme.

Liberum analyst Dominic O'Kane said all mining companies faced break-ins by unemployed local people, trying to mine high-grade ore on their licence areas.

"To say they're employed by Glencore or any other mining companies just isn't true," he said, noting that he had not yet seen the documentary.

BBC Panorama, which filmed the programme in the south east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in February, has called the programme "Billionaires Behaving Badly?" and on its website said Glencore stands accused of reckless greed.

The broadcaster also said Glencore was responsible for environmental damage in the African country. It accused Glencore of having pumped acid used in mining into a local river.

Glasenberg, who owns 15.8 percent of Glencore and has a net worth of $7.3 billion according to Forbes, said Glencore had inherited the acid problem when it took control of operations at a refinery in 2009 and had since worked to put in place facilities to end the discharge.

Glencore said that in the last few weeks it had completed the project to end the release of acid into the river.

Shares in Glencore, which is in the process of trying to buy Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata for $41 billion, traded up 1 percent to 403.8 pence at 1129 GMT, outperforming the European mining index which was 0.5 percent higher.

Glencore to lay out Xstrata merger plans

By Clara Ferreira-Marques and Victoria Howley

LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore will this week move into the final stage of its long-awaited $30 billion takeover of miner Xstrata, as shareholders are sent detailed documents on the deal, kicking off a last charm offensive ahead of July votes.

But Xstrata investors hoping for an improvement to the all-share offer are likely to be disappointed, at least for now.

That is because of technical changes set to support Glencore shares over the coming weeks, share sales by prominent naysayers and stake-building by Qatar, whose sovereign wealth fund now has more than 9 percent of Xstrata and is expected to back the deal.

Glencore, which already owns almost 34 percent of the miner, is offering 2.8 new shares for every Xstrata share held to conclude its long-standing plan to create an integrated mining and trading powerhouse.

Those terms will likely be confirmed in the documents, due out by Thursday, though Glencore can still increase the bid up until a few days before shareholders vote.

"Qatar seems reasonably likely to approve the 2.8 ratio. So given that, the chances of an increase in the ratio from 2.8 to something modestly above have probably lessened slightly, and the probability the deal will get done has increased," Nik Stanojevic, an analyst at Brewin Dolphin, said.

Glencore shares closed on Friday at almost 346 pence, with Xstrata at about 912 pence, below the level implied by the offer.

The time value of money - a convention that says money held now has a higher value than money promised in future - implies investors are expecting the deal to go through roughly on current terms.

"We continue to see negligible scope for a "bump" to the terms and larger downside risks for Xstrata shareholders in the increasingly unlikely event that the deal is voted down," Liberum analysts said in a note on Friday.

Ingredients that helped Glencore, they said, included an increased focus on the rising cost of new greenfield projects - a bonus for the trading giant which has bet on low capital intensity, brownfield growth.

But the last round of meetings after the documents are published will be crucial for Glencore, which needs the backing of minorities thanks to the deal structure.

It requires at least 75 percent of shareholders excluding Glencore to approve the offer, meaning opposition from investors representing more than 16.5 percent of Xstrata's total shareholding would be enough to derail it.

And there is still opposition to the deal on current terms.

"They want control of the assets and to control them in a different way - but we are not being paid for that change of control. It's pretty clear what is in this for Glencore but not so much for Xstrata," one top-20 shareholder said this month.

Yet at least two of Glencore's most vocal opponents on the Xstrata shareholder register, Standard Life and Schroders, have been selling down their stakes, according to regulatory filings.

MONEY MATTERS

Investors are expecting the documents to lay out minutiae of the deal, including payments due to the two sides' advisers, remuneration details and an update on discussions with antitrust authorities, with the European Union and China a focus.

Remuneration - including details of any retention package for Xstrata's Mick Davis, who will stay on as chief executive of the combined group - will be closely watched after more than a third of voting shareholders rejected pay plans at Xstrata's annual shareholder meeting this month.

Xstrata and Glencore last month delayed timing of the documents for shareholders to the end of May, a month later than planned, as the two sides sought more time for discussions with regulators - including Brussels, to which a merger notification is expected to be filed imminently.

Once that notification is received, the European Commission has 25 days to approve the deal or begin an in-depth probe into the plan to create the world's fourth-largest miner.

An in-depth probe -- Phase II -- is considered unlikely, but would be a significant setback for Glencore. The deal would technically lapse, under UK rules, and could only be restarted once clearance is granted -- a bruising delay.

(Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise; Editing by David Hulmes)

finance.yahoo.com/news/glencore-lay-xstr...0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Thanks for the post Earl!

Obviously no one is going to feel sorry for Xstrata or its shareholders. Not only is Xstrata itself another Mining Oligarch, but as I've mentioned before these two are basically "kissing cousins".

However, what this merger/take-over illustrates is the vampire-mentality of Glencore. It already owns over a third of the company - meaning it only needs to lock-up another 17% of its shares to take effective control of the company. So many would say it could AFFORD to be generous with its take-out offer.

But Glencore doesn't think like that. Instead, it's thinking is that since it only needs to grab another 17% of the shares that it could get away with a low-ball offer - to a company with which it's had a FRIENDLY working relationship for decades.

Of course, as we see over on Wall Street things like this happen quite often in the world of Oligarchs. One minute Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan were "friends" of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the next minute they're feasting on their carcasses.

Vampires aren't known for their LOYALTY...

To the forum,

Aug. 7th -Cost cuts help Xstrata beat profit expectations.
www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/07/us-xs...dUSBRE87606X20120807






Glencore says $30 billion Xstrata deal "not a must-do"

www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/us-gl...dUSBRE87K06O20120821

(Reuters) - Glencore's (GLEN.L) $30 billion bid for miner Xstrata (XTA.L) is not a "must-do deal" its chief executive said on Tuesday, in making the company's strongest suggestion yet that it will not yield to key shareholder Qatar's demands for an improved offer.

Ivan Glasenberg, speaking after the commodities trader reported a smaller than expected drop in its first-half profit, expressed exasperation with Qatar Holding, which has been in a stand-off with Glencore since the sovereign wealth fund surprised the market by demanding an improvement to Glencore's offer of 2.8 new shares for every Xstrata share.

Qatar has increased to 12 percent a less than 3 percent stake in Xstrata since the all-share bid was announced earlier this year, less than Glencore's own 34 percent holding but enough to block the takeover under the current deal structure.

"We cannot understand the position of the Qataris, asking for more than the 2.8 ratio. We have seen nothing coming out of recent results that supports this. In fact we have seen quite the opposite," Glasenberg told Reuters in an interview. "It is not a must-do deal. It is a deal that we believe makes sense."

While Glasenberg, speaking three weeks before a Sept 7 vote, stopped short of saying he would definitely not raise the current offer, he told reporters and analysts to "take conclusions" from his comments, adding Glencore could walk away and return to the merger proposal in a year or two.

"It is unlikely anyone else will come and buy Xstrata, so it still sits there for us to look at some time in the future," he said. "It is not as if it is a deal we are going to lose, or that is running away from us."

Glencore, which listed precisely to gain the firepower to do bigger deals, announced in February it would bid for the Xstrata stock it does not already own in a move to create a mining and trading powerhouse. Qatar, however, broke months of silence in June by demanding a ratio of 3.25 to back the deal.

Neither Glencore nor Qatar, buying Xstrata shares almost daily, have shown any sign of blinking in the standoff. While several analysts said it was too soon to write off the merger, they also said on Tuesday the risk of collapse had risen.

"Our base case is still for a bump to (a share exchange ratio of) 3, but our conviction regarding a bump is weakening," Jefferies analysts said in note.

"It is not clear to us whether Glencore is talking down the market's expectations to soften Xstrata's oppositional shareholders, ultimately surprising to the upside with a bump to 3, or whether Glencore is just being completely transparent about its true intentions and does not plan to bump at all."

The market was also unclear, with Xstrata shares up by just over 1 percent at 920.1 pence at 1245 GMT and Glencore almost flat at 354.4 pence.

"Given the fact that maybe a bump from 2.8 to 3 - which is only about 7 percent - would do it, I still think that it'll probably get done at a little bit higher," analyst Nik Stanojevic at stockbroker Brewin Dolphin said.

Sources familiar with the negotiations had expected talks between Glencore and Qatar to resume after earnings and the end of Ramadan, but Glasenberg said no meeting was yet planned.

MARKETING HOLDS, PROFIT DROPS

Glencore said its net profit in the first six months of the year fell 26 percent, less than analysts had forecast as resilience in its trading business, even as margins shrank, offset the impact of falling commodity prices.

Like Xstrata earlier this month, however, Glencore used results presentations to investors to paint a picture of a company with standalone growth prospects.

Brushing off worries over the potential impact to its credit rating, currently two notches above junk, if the cashflow-rice Xstrata merger deal falls through, Glencore said it would continue to focus on brownfield expansions which it says are less likely to face cost overruns than greenfield projects being tackled by larger mining rivals.

The company said the structure of a long-awaited $3.2 billion deal to raise its stake in Kazakh metals producer Kazzinc to over 90 percent was under review, though should complete this year. Deal options were also arising elsewhere, however, with "knocks on the door" from financially stretched producers increasing, it said.

Glencore's net profit for the first half dropped to $1.81 billion, putting the miner on track to match its 2011 full year.

Overall operating profit for Glencore's trading arm fell 11 percent in the half - dented by poorer results from energy trading on what Glencore said were fewer arbitrage opportunities and a tough freight market, though the contribution of its largest trading arm, metals, rose on tight inventory levels.

The picture was more mixed in Glencore's industrial division, which houses its production assets ranging from coal mines to oil wells and farms and where operating profit fell 32 percent. That was largely due to the impact of falling prices in its metals operations, where profit more than halved.

Miners have had a tough time, reporting their first profit falls since 2009.

Two weeks ago Xstrata, one of the world's largest producers of copper and thermal coal, reported a 31 percent fall in first-half profits, despite cost cuts that helped the miner offset stubbornly high wages and inflation.

However, the miner also took a $514 million writedown on the value of its near 25 percent stake in troubled South African platinum miner Lonmin (LMI.L).

Glencore is also increasing profits from its agricultural commodities arm and said on Tuesday it expected to benefit from what it said was some of the toughest U.S. agricultural conditions since the 1930s Dust Bowl after a crippling drought, signaling higher prices and more arbitrage in the second half.

Yes Earl, wealthy MISERS squabbling about who will get the FATTEST after this deal is done.

Understand that all the bull-shit we hear out of Glencore is pure rhetoric. The deal WILL get done. This is why the Qatari group is bidding up the price. They KNOW how much Glencore is LUSTING over the possibility of forming TWO Oligarchs into one Bigger Oligarch.

What's important to note here is that the Oligarchs themselves are NOT some "monolithic" bloc. While there ARE many of them who are in obvious league with each other; many/most still function (more or less) independent of the others.

Thus there is still some competition/rivalry amongst these Oligarchs, although certainly not "competition" in the sense that WE think of it: free-and-open markets. No, the "competition" amongst Oligarchs is simply the open premise that NONE of them are above trying to CHEAT-OR-EAT one of the others.



It is the inherently predatory GREED of these Misers which is ultimately OUR greatest weapon -- and THEIR greatest fear: that WE will gain control of our own governments again, and then turn the Oligarchs against each other...