Glencore is a Swiss-British mining and commodities firm, the biggest Western investor in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Between 2007 and 2018 Glencore admitted to paying bribes in relation to its mines in Congo and was later fined (the fines also related to its activities in other countries).
A fund backed by the American and Abu Dhabi governments is bidding for 40% of Glencore's stakes in two mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2024 Glencore acquired the coal assets of Teck Resources, a Canadian miner. In January 2026 Rio Tinto, the industry's fourth-most valuable company, confirmed talks to acquire Glencore, a deal that would create the world's biggest miner, worth around $220bn. A combined entity would produce about 1.6m tonnes of copper a year, roughly 7% of total global mine output. The total value of mining tie-ups in 2025 reached $94bn, the most in a decade.
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.