"Brazilian mining giant Vale confirmed it has held talks with Xstrata about a takeover of the Anglo-Swiss competitor. Although Vale said the talks had "not produced any material result", the company is understood to be working on a bid that would value Xstrata at $97bn (£49.9bn)."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;?xml=/money/2008/01/22/cnxstrata122.xml