IN the 18 years that Ivan Glasenberg has run the global mining and commodity trading company Glencore, he has built a reputation as one of the canniest and most successful businessmen of his time.
Regardless of the state of particular commodity cycles, Glencore has usually been able to maintain its position as a cash-generating machine.
Thanks to a sizeable minority stake in the company, Mr Glasenberg has amassed an enormous fortune along the way - a factor that has understandably interested his supporters and detractors alike.
In a move that seems to have taken at least some of the company by surprise, Mr Glasenberg used an otherwise regular investor presentation in London on Friday to announce he was handing over the Glencore reigns to the current head of the company's coal division, Gary Nagle.
Intentionally or not, the retirement announcement tended to dominate the early coverage of the presentation.
As we report today, both the broad thrust and the detail of Glencore's latest decisions are destined to have a sizeable impact on the Hunter Region: there are two reasons for this.
First, the company has declared that two of its Hunter mines, Liddell and Integra, will close in 2023.
In a curious mixup, the published presentation said a third Hunter mine, Glendell, would also close in 2023.
The Swiss company's Australian arm says this is a mistake, and that 2023 is the expiry of its existing operating licence, something it is seeking to extend by 20 years. Climate activists might describe Australia as a laggard in global terms, but official attitudes are changing, and Glendell's licence extension is by no means guaranteed.
More broadly, Glencore has also taken what it describes as a "unique" position on climate change, in setting ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets that include the Scope 3 emissions generated by the end users of its products, most notably coal.
Mr Glasenberg, who presumably pushed for these targets, will not have the responsibility of making them work, although his shareholding - should he retain it - will give him leverage as an owner.
Time will tell if Glencore's actions match its words, but for the time being, the critics of coal should give it credit for moving the way that it has.
And as one of Australia's "big two" miners - alongside China's Yancoal - it has put the Hunter and Queensland coal industries, and their communities, on notice.
ISSUE: 39,485.
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FURTHER READING: THE GLENCORE WEBPAGE WITH THE PRESENTATION
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