Rio Tinto scraps $300 billion merger plan with rival Glencore

Mining giant Rio Tinto has abandoned merger talks with rival Glencore, saying the companies failed to clinch a deal that would give shareholders enough value.

Since January, British-Australian Rio Tinto and Glencore, based in Switzerland, have been discussing a potential merger that would have created the world's largest mining company with a value of $300 billion.

Glencore is an Anglo-Swiss company. Both have substantial mining operations in Australia.

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In a statement overnight, Rio Tinto said it "could not reach an agreement that would deliver value to its shareholders".

Glencore said Rio had failed to put on the table a large enough premium for acquiring full control in any merger.

"We concluded that the proposed acquisition on these terms is not in the best interests of Glencore shareholders."

It also said Rio had insisted on holding the power to pick the chairman and chief executive.

The two companies had been in talks last year, but those discussions ended without an agreement.

Glencore is Australia's largest coal producer, operating in NSW and Queensland. It also has copper interests in north Queensland, zinc and lead mines in North Queensland and the Northern Territory, and nickel and cobalt in Western Australia.

Rio Tinto's Australian operations span across every state but South Australia.

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