Under the deal, which still must be approved by regulators in Ottawa, Glencore is to pay $6.9 billion for 77% of Elk Valley Resources, Teck’s coal business.

Glencore will merge Teck’s steelmaking coal business with its own coal assets before spinning off the combined unit.

The burning of biomass fuel, the crude oil exploitation and coal mining industries are causing a severe deterioration of air quality in African countries.

For each decade of life, Indigenous coal miners were more likely to have both black lung and lung function impairment than non-Indigenous coal miners.

Since the beginning of the modern era, emissions from coal-fired power plants, mining and waste incineration have increased the concentration of potentially toxic mercury in the atmosphere sevenfold.