Shares in mining major Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) were up almost 4% in early trading after it said it was acquiring a 77% stake in Elk Valley Resources (EVR), the steelmaking coal division of Teck Resources, for US$6.93 billion.
It is part of a broader deal by the Canadian giant that will see the remainder of the steel business offloaded to Nippon Steel and Korea's POSCO.
Talking about Glencore's part of the transaction, chief executive Gary Nagle told investors: “We are pleased to have reached agreement to acquire Teck’s steelmaking coal operations in the Elk Valley.
"These world-class assets and the experienced people that operate them are expected to meaningfully complement our existing thermal and steelmaking coal production located in Australia, Colombia and South Africa."
The market welcomed the deal with the stock trading up 3.7% at 446.5p.