The turn of a new year always seems to bring a lot of news; new financial years, the natural turn to another annual journey, and many other factors play into the resurgence of business that January 1 brings.
With plenty of industry headwinds as we hung up a new calendar, the course seemed to shift, albeit slightly, and there has seemed to be more changes than normal in the area of partnerships, acquisitions and even the change of the guard for companies. It seems to cross the board from suppliers to operations, and a number of announcements have had global implications.
One of the first that comes to mind is a transaction that wasn’t: the merger of Rio Tinto and Glencore. First announced in January, talks fell apart the following month when it failed to strike a balance that would offer sufficient value to its shareholders, according to a news wire. It was the second such attempt in a year’s time; the two first coming to the table to talk acquisition in 2024. No confirmed terms of the rejected deal were ever disclosed.
Could this be an opening call to more M&A activity in 2026? We shall see, but so far there’s already been one in the works, at least at press time: Canadian miner Eldorado Gold said February 2 it came to an agreement to acquire Foran Mining. In nickel, Lundin Mining said it was selling its Eagle nickel-copper mine and Humboldt Mill in Michigan to Talon Metals for $84 million in December. Eagle is the only primary nickel mine currently operating in the U.S.
On the supplier side, things have also been quite busy. Sandvik signed an agreement to acquire simulator and training company ThoroughTec Simulation, Allison Transmission Holdings said it wrapped up its acquisition of the off-highway drive and motion systems business division of Dana in a $2.7 billion deal, Weir acquired the remaining 50% it did not already hold of mining tools maker ESEL and, at press time, Ohio-based Kodiak Chemical confirmed broadening is footprint into the APAC region with a JV with Blackrock Mining Solutions.
On the joint venture and partnership front, Flanders Electric Motor Service and EKU Power Drives entered a pact to add EKU’s idle management solutions to mining. Additionally, a partnership between Veolia and ocean infrastructure company SBM Offshore will combine water technologies and desalination expertise for the advancement of freshwater floating production units. Kal Tire’s mining group joined forces with Australia’s Decoda for an alliance to bring mines real-time, autonomous haul road hazard detection, and Hitachi Construction Machinery announced in January it invested $3 million in Canadian firm Rithmik Solutions to accelerate the capabilities of data analytics for mining equipment.
All of these announcements have just been in the past several weeks. What do you think lies ahead for the industry as we advance into the next quarter of the year?
Donna Schmidt
Editor, North American Mining magazine
[email protected]
X: @Dschmidt_NAM