The government of Kazakhstan last night looked set to take the scandal-struck mining giant ENRC off the London Stock Exchange in the hope of stemming the tide of negative publicity it has brought the mineral-rich nation.

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Shares in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) jumped by  26 per cent yesterday after a consortium of key shareholders in the Kazakh miner announced they were considering an offer for the company.

Outlook So Mick Davis has left the building a bit earlier than expected. The £30m in retention bonuses a supine board planned to kick his way following the marriage of his Xstrata with Ivan Glasenberg's Glencore almost became the straw that broke the back of this unlovely Bactrian when investors cried foul.

Giant commodity trader Glencore is set to get final clearance for its $32 billion (£20.9 billion) takeover of mining group Xstrata some 14 months after it first launched their bid.

The Analyst

Shares in FTSE 100 copper miner Kazakhmys tumbled by more than 7 per cent yesterday after it wrote down the value of its stake in fellow Kazakh miner ENRC by $2.2bn (£1.4 bn).

Copper miner Kazakhmys will this week confirm a huge writedown of about $2bn (£1.3bn) in the value of its 26 per cent stake in fellow Kazakh miner ENRC.

ENRC's founding trio of major shareholders are collectively about $100m (£66m) out of pocket after a $1.5bn charge plunged the Kazakh-focused miner into the red last year.

Polish rescue workers tunnelled through collapsed rock to reach 19 workers trapped in a mine shaft and are now bringing them to the surface, a spokesman for the company operating the mine said.

How will punters be able to get their hands on shares in the world's largest silver producer? Mexico's Fresnillo was discussing just that today. The miner is one of a handful of groups on the benchmark index facing a ticking clock – the deadline for their free float to reach 25 per cent is the end of the year.

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Glencore's £56bn merger with Xstrata is being held up by the Chinese government on concerns the resulting group could wield too much influence over China's copper market.

The changing of the guard continued in the FTSE 100 mining industry as Rio Tinto appointed Chris Lynch, a former finance head at BHP Billiton, as its chief financial officer.