LONDON – Canadian mining company Teck Resources said it is engaging with Glencore’s offer to buy its steelmaking coal business for cash, the latest twist in the takeover saga.

The Swiss-based firm’s proposal is preliminary and non-binding, Teck said in a statement on Monday.

Glencore has so far been thwarted in its attempts to buy all of Teck, with the latter refusing to engage.

Glencore had proposed merging the two companies’ metal businesses and creating a new coal mining unit in a US$23 billion (S$31 billion) deal. It said on Monday that it has not given up on its plans to buy all of Teck.

Teck and its controlling shareholder have repeatedly rejected Glencore, which launched a successful lobbying campaign against Teck’s plan to split its business.

Teck, in turn, has sought to come up with a new plan to separate its coal business, and said last week that it had received several proposals for deals involving its coal operations.

Glencore’s previous offer valued Teck’s coal business at US$8.2 billion. It did not give a valuation for its current offer.

Glencore said on Monday that should a deal be done, it would spin off its own thermal coal operations combined with Teck’s steelmaking coal mines.

Glencore has come under increasing pressure from investors over its continued ownership of coal mines, with almost 30 per cent backing a resolution urging the firm to explain how its thermal coal business aligns with efforts to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 deg C. BLOOMBERG