Toronto-based mining companies Inmet and Lundin have agreed to merge and form a Canadian copper producer named Sym-terra, with a market value of about $9 billion. By pooling their global resources, the companies hope to produce more than 500,000 metric tons of copper annually by 2017. Prices for the metal are up 28 percent over the past 12 months, hitting a record $9,754 per metric ton on the London Metal Exchange on Jan. 4. The surge is fueling a rush of mergers and acquisitions among miners, with $87.8 billion worth of deals announced globally in the past 12 months, up from $43.5 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
展开▼
