Could Glencore become an iron ore miner?

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be a miner,” Glasenberg told reporters in a media call. “We have always said we wish to grow the iron ore business since it became a spot tradeable business,” he added.

The revelation comes fast on the heels of Glencore’s bid Wednesday for a 27% stake in Australian nickel miner Minara (it already owns 73%) in a deal worth AU$268 million.

Glasenberg said Glencore, which owns a 34% stake in Xstrata, would be open to purchasing iron ore assets when the opportunities present themselves and would continue to seek more commercial agreements with iron ore producers, Marketwatch reported, adding the company has commercial agreements in Australia, Sierra Leone and the U.S.

Other developments reported by Marketwatch:

Glencore Wednesday agreed to purchase 48% of Australian iron ore miner Mount Gibson Iron Ltd.’s (MGX.AU) output from its planned Extension Hill mine and in January secured an offtake agreement from London Mining PLC’s (LOND.OS) Sierra Leone mine for 9.5 million tons of iron ore over a five-year period.

Glencore and U.S.-based mining company Wings Enterprises Inc. have also agreed to jointly develop an abandoned magnetite mine in Missouri to produce rare earths and iron ore. Glencore will have exclusive rights to market the ore.

Eric Reguly in the Globe and Mail comments on the opportunism of Glencore to consider acquisitions now, just as commodities prices are falling on fears of a double dip recession along with the share prices of  mining companies:

In a conference call on Thursday, Mr. Glasenberg said Glencore is simply doing what Glencore does best, which is to pounce on assets it thinks are cheap before rivals get the same idea. “The turmoil in the market has allowed us to look more aggressively at opportunities, because not everything is as high-priced as it was a few months ago,” he said. “Is this the bottom? I don’t know. It is definitely a better time and an opportunistic time to look at acquisitions.”

According to Reguly, Glencore’s next target is widely expected to be Optimum, South Africa’s fourth biggest coal exporter,  a company valued at US$1 billion.