Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom.

[8] Mick Davis was appointed CEO of Xstrata in 2001, and it was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002 at which time it acquired Glencore's coal assets in Australia and South Africa.

[9][10][11] In 2003, Xstrata doubled in size with the A$2.9 billion takeover of Australian copper, zinc and lead miner MIM Holdings.

[12] However, it failed in a 2005 bid for another Australian miner, WMC Resources, which was captured by BHP, the world's biggest mining company.

[14] In August 2005, Xstrata purchased a 19.9% stake in Falconbridge Limited, a diversified Canadian mining company producing copper, nickel, aluminum, lead and zinc.

[15] In 2006, The Northern Territory and Australian Governments approved the expansion of the McArthur River zinc mine, near the popular fishing destination of Borrooloola.

On 3 May 2007, the Northern Territory government rushed through retrospective legislation to overrule the court decision and allow the open-cut mine to proceed.

[17] On 28 May 2012 violent repression of local residents by the police in the province of Espinar, Cuzco, Peru, caused the deaths of two civilians.

[21] It had major operations/projects in eighteen countries (Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, the United States and the United Kingdom) and it was a major producer of copper, coking coal, thermal coal, nickel, ferrochrome, vanadium and zinc.

Xstrata managed this mine on behalf of the Bulga Coal Pty Ltd shareholders from 2001 when it purchased Enex Resources Limited from Glencore International AG.

[23] After this, Xstrata Coal came under media scrutiny numerous times in regards to the company's management of the pre-mining stage of the mining project.