History

Seizing the opportunity

The roots of our company date back to 1926 when Swiss infrastructure investment company Südelektra AG was founded. The company was renamed Xstrata AG in 1999 and in October 2001 our current management team, led by Chief Executive Officer Mick Davis, joined the business.

In 2001 Xstrata AG was small, with a market capitalisation of around $500 million and a portfolio weighted towards zinc and ferroalloys operations in Spain and South Africa respectively. The company was in a difficult financial position and had an uncertain future.

The new management team saw an opportunity to create a new, diversified mining company listed in London with the ability to grow rapidly. Their conviction was that demand would rise from the depressed levels of 2001 and that a lack of investment in exploration and new mining capacity meant that supply would struggle to respond to any increase in demand.

The creation of Xstrata plc

In March 2002, Xstrata plc was created through an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. It was more than seven times oversubscribed. Simultaneously, we acquired the Australian and South African coal assets of Glencore, the largest shareholder in Xstrata, for $2.5 billion. As a result we became the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal and entered the FTSE 100 index as the 100th largest company. The transformational deal created the foundations for building Xstrata into the global business it is today.

A decade of success

Our immediate focus by necessity was to embark on an intense period of acquisition – to find, buy and integrate businesses that would deliver the scale and diversity of products and operating regions that would turn our business into one of the world’s leading mining companies.

We simultaneously improved the quality of our assets delivering year-on-year operating cost reductions, increasing productivity, extending the life of existing mines, expanding our resource base and integrating industry-leading safety, social and environmental standards.

The companies we acquired provided us with a range of potential growth options, as well as the scale to develop major new mining operations. We have already successfully delivered 19 major growth projects since 2002, extending existing mines and developing new operations across five countries. We are now constructing a further 19 major new operations or expansions to increase production volumes significantly.

Key events

Date	Key event
Q3 2011	Expansion of the Newlands Northern underground mine in Australia to add 3 million tonnes of coking coal production per annum
Q4 2011	Commissioning of 4 million tonnes per annum ATCOM East thermal coal project in South Africa
July 2011	First ore production from the $87 million Kikialik nickel project in Canada to expand the Raglan operation by an additional 7,000 tonnes of nickel per annum
May 2011	Acquisition of 86.8% of Sphere Minerals Limited, valuing the company at AU$514 million to provide interests in three iron ore projects in Mauritania
March 2011	$1 billion Mangoola thermal coal mine commissioned in Australia with expected annual production of 8 million tonnes per annum
February 2011	Acquisition of a 50% plus one share stake in Zanaga iron ore project in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) in return for a commitment to fund a feasibility study to a minimum of $100 million
June 2010	Commissioning of the 4 million tonnes per annum Blakefield South coking and thermal coal mine in Australia for a cost of A$375 million
April 2010	Commissioning of the $809 million polymetallic Nickel Rim South mine in Canada to produce 1.25 million tonnes of nickel ore per annum
December 2009	Commissioning of the 7 million tonnes per annum Goedgevonden thermal coal mine in South Africa at a total cost of ZAR3.6 billion
2008	Completion of the $110 million expansion of McArthur River zinc lead mine in Australia.
October 2008	Acquisition of 24.9% of Lonmin Plc, one of the world's largest platinum miners, for $1.8 billion.
H2 2008	Completion of the expansion of the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia to 32 million tonnes per annum at a total cost of $127.5 million
July 2008	Perseverance zinc mine successfully commissioned in Canada after an investment of $130 million
February 2008	Acquisition of Resource Pacific Holdings Ltd, owner of the Ravensworth underground semi-soft coking coal and thermal coal mine in Australia, for $1 billion
February 2008	Acquisition of Jubilee Mines NL, owner of the Cosmos and Sinclair nickel projects, for US$2.9 billion
November 2007	Commissioning of the concentrator and open cut mine at the Eland Platinum mine in South Africa
November 2007	Acquisition of Eland Platinum Holdings, owner of the Eland platinum mine, for $1 billion.
October 2007	Acquisition of Austral Coal Ltd, owner of the Tahmoor coking coal mine, for A$557 million
October 2007	Purchase of the Anvil Hill thermal coal project in Australia (renamed Mangoola) from Centennial Coal Company Ltd for A$425 million
July 2007	Commissioning of the 1.2 million tonnes per annum Bokamoso pelletising plant to supply Xstrata’s smelters with chrome ore pellets at a cost of ZAR800 million.
April 2007	Disposal of Xstrata Aluminum, created from Falconbridge’s aluminum assets, to Apollo Management LP for $1.15 billion
Q4 2006	Commissioning of Wollombi open pit coking coal mine at the Newlands colliery.
December 2006	Completion of the expansion of the $45 million Minera Alumbrera concentrator plant expansion to increase throughput capacity to 40 million tonnes per annum
November 2006	Acquisition of the remaining 80% of Falconbridge for $16.9 billion to add a new commodity, nickel, exposure to North America, a significantly enhanced South American copper business and substantial organic growth opportunities
October 2006	Commissioning of the 200,000 tonnes (ROM) Mototolo platinum mine (April) and concentrator (October), a joint venture between Xstrata Alloys and Anglo American Platinum.
September 2006	Completion of Xstrata Alloys’ 360,000 tonne per annum Lion Smelter, constructed at a cost of ZAR1.67 billion
June 2006	Acquisition of the Tintaya copper operation in Peru from BHP Billiton for $750 million
March 2006	Acquisition of one-third stake in Cerrejón, a Colombian coal operation, from Glencore International for $1.7 billion.
September 2005	Completion of new, 8 million tonne per annum greenfield Rolleston coal mine in Australia for a cost of A$218 million (Xstrata share)
August 2005	Purchase of a 19.9% stake in Falconbridge Limited for $1.7 billion
February 2005	Commissioning of the $19.3 million, 2.3 million tonne per annum Black Star open cut zinc lead mine in Australia
July 2004	Establishment of Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture, a pooling and sharing venture between Xstrata Alloys’ South African ferrochrome business and Merafe Resources
June 2003	Acquisition of MIM Holdings for $2.9 billion providing greater geographic diversification, scale and entry into two new commodities: copper and coking coal
January 2003	Acquisition of the Nordenham zinc smelter in Germany for $100 million
March 2002	Listing of Xstrata plc in London and simultaneous acquisition of Glencore’s Australian and South African coal businesses for $2.5 billion