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Xstrata PLC took one big step forward Wednesday in its ambition of becoming one of the world's top mining companies.

If Wednesday's $16.1-billion offer for the rest of Canada's Falconbridge Ltd. is successful, the move would make the Zug, Switzerland-based company the fifth-largest miner on the planet. The deal would also boost its exposure to copper, nickel and zinc at a time when commodity prices are at record highs.

Today's move caps months of takeover speculation swirling around the Swiss company and catapults Xstrata squarely onto the Canadian stage.

The proposed union ”would provide significant benefits to Canada through a substantial direct foreign investment and we expect to have a positive impact on long-term employment and capital investment in the country,” chief executive Mick Davis said on a European conference call earlier today.

This wouldn't be the only Xstrata operation on Canadian soil. In December, the company landed the rights to possibly develop the Donkin coal block in Nova Scotia in the wake of strong global demand for coal.

Xstrata, with about 26,000 employees world-wide, has become a major global player in the mining world since its London listing in 2002. It has positions in six commodity markets — copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, vanadium and zinc, with additional exposure to gold, lead and silver.

It became the world's largest producer of export thermal coal after acquisitions in 2002 and 2003 gave it coal businesses in Australia and South Africa.

It continues to aggressively expand. Just yesterday, Xstrata agreed to buy a Peruvian mine from BHP Billiton Ltd. for a hefty $750-million (U.S.).

The Xstrata-Falconbridge combination would create the world's fifth-largest mining company behind BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and CVRD.

Xstrata's Mr. Davis has made no secret of his wish to broaden the company's exposure in copper and zinc businesses, and to add nickel. Falconbridge is the world's No. 3 nickel and zinc producer and one of the world's largest base-metals producers.

Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the 48-year-old Mr. Davis has a degree is a former accountant with a degree from Rhodes University. He was formerly the financial director of Billiton and joined Xstrata in October, 2001.

Today's bid for Falconbridge comes after Mr. Davis's $6.6-billion (U.S.) bid for Australian copper and nickel miner WMC Resources Ltd. fizzled in March, 2005.

Xstrata's origins go back to 1926, when Sudelektra Holding AG was formed in Switzerland. In 1990, the commodity trading group Glencore International AG bought a stake in Sudelektra. The company changed its name to Xstrata and jumped into the global spotlight in 2002, when it listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

Glencore, which controls 38 per cent of Xstrata, has a colourful past of its own. Formerly known as Marc Rich & Co. AG, it was founded by Marc Rich, the commodities trader who was indicted in the U.S. in 1983 on charges of evading more than $48-million (U.S.) in taxes. He left the country for Switzerland and was controversially pardoned by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 2001.

Mr. Rich sold his stake in Marc Rich & Co. for more than $500-million in 1994, the Fortune magazine said.

Like thousands of other international companies, Xstrata is headquartered in Zug, which is known for having the lowest tax rate within the already low-tax country of Switzerland. In order to benefit from those conditions, companies need only have a mailing address within the Alpine region.