Glencore is doubling down on coal, even as rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group move away from the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel. The company, run by former coal trader Ivan Glasenberg, made a surprise eleventh-hour $3.5-billion bid for a huge patch of thermal coal-rich ground on Australia’s east coast controlled by Rio Tinto Group and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. Rio is considering the proposal, which trumps an agreement made with a unit of China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining Co.
