Xstrata

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• Michael Davis ( CEO)
• Willy Strothotte ( Chairman )

Xstrata plc is an international Swiss mining company, which is registered as a public limited company in London, but is headquartered in train. The company is listed on both the London as well as the Swiss Exchange. Xstrata employs its own account, directly and indirectly around 70,000 people and generated 2012 sales of approximately 31.6 billion U.S. dollars. Principal shareholder of Xstrata with a share of 34.38 %, which is active in commodity trading Glencore.

History

Xstrata was founded in 1926 as Südelektra AG and initially worked in infrastructure and power projects in Latin America. Through a variety of acquisitions, the company expanded to a broadly diversified mining companies. 1999 -based train Südelektra AG changed its name to Xstrata AG. On the occasion of 2002 made ​​the IPO, the Group organized new. The previous Xstrata AG was thereby dissolved as a corporation under Swiss law and as Xstrata plc a publicly traded company. Headquarters remained still train.

Xstrata has since grown into one of the largest companies in Switzerland last but not least, thanks to several large acquisitions and the commodity boom and operates companies and projects in 18 countries. The only location of Xstrata in Germany is a zinc smelter in Nordenham.

On February 7, 2012 it was announced that Xstrata had agreed with the domiciled in Baar Glencore about a merger. However, some major shareholders announced resistance and approvals from the competition authorities are still pending. After careful examination, the European Commission announced on 22 November 2012 in Brussels, that the planned merger of the two companies to Glencore Xstrata International plc has been approved. The only support the termination of the cooperation between Glencore and the zinc producer Nyrstar was called. In April 2013, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China issued a regulatory authority approval of the merger on the condition that Glencore will sell a copper mine in Peru and by 2020 the Chinese customers certain amounts of copper, zinc and lead are supplied.

Business

The main field of activity of the group include the promotion of copper, coal, nickel, vanadium and zinc. In addition, Xstrata also promotes platinum, gold, cobalt, lead and silver and is heavily active in recycling. Xstrata is active in 18 countries on six continents. The main shareholder Glencore for Xstrata takes over the marketing rights, among others, for nickel, cobalt, copper and vanadium.

Criticism

Xstrata is in the sustainability reports of a Swiss University of Applied Sciences (University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland ) regularly on the foremost ranks, the head of research emphasizes that the report does not indicate whether a company operates sustainably or acts socially, but only measures how well the company reported it. For the handling of its mine workers, especially in the emerging markets, Xstrata will always be criticized. Thus fell, in 2002, the South African subsidiary " Vantech " into heavy criticism when it was revealed that 83 employees within two years - according to union even 120, about a quarter of the total workforce - have been suspended at the site in Mpumalanga Province, of which the most of them suffered from bronchitis or severe asthma. Reason for the disease was, according to a study published in 2001, examination of the South African mining ministry that they were exposed to the toxic Minenerz vanadium pentoxide. Report of the According to the Ministry of vanadium pentoxide dust had sometimes exceeded in some jobs the permissible limit by 31fache. Another report by the Ministry, which was published in 2002, criticized the Vantech management ignored the health risks and the employees " over the years an unacceptably high concentration of chemical substances " exposed. Nevertheless, the report also, the management could not be accused of clear violation of labor laws. However, recommended a series of measures that would take the company to maintain the health risk as low as possible.

In 2012 it came to Peru to large protests, in which the company massive pollution in the operation of a copper mine were vergeworfen. Two people died and the government declared in the province affected the state of emergency.