Record metal prices and a drive to corner international markets have spurred mining groups into a frenzy of mega-mergers.
The latest to date was an offer of US$33 billion (NT$1.09 trillion) a week ago by US aluminum group Alcoa Inc for Canadian rival Alcan Inc in a bid to become the world's biggest aluminum group ahead of Rusal, a Russian and Swiss-owned company.
Rusal was formed in a March merger of Russia's Rusal and Sual with Switzerland's Glencore.
Alcoa is also looking over its shoulder, however, as the sector consolidates and Chinese groups gain ground.
On Wednesday, global stock markets were swept by rumors of a takeover bid for No. 3 mining group Rio Tinto Plc by leader BHP Billiton Ltd, both of which are Anglo-Australian companies.
A deal could mark the third biggest takeover of all time, following those of AOL by Time Warner Inc and Mannesmann AG by Vodafone Group Plc.
"Companies are confident that prices are going to stay high and if the prices stay high, the profits will be high and they can pay back the debt quite quickly," Societe Generale analyst Stephen Briggs said.
"It is in the interest of companies to create oligopolies because oligopolies charge higher prices and companies that are member of oligopolies are more profitable and more competitive," he said.
Oligopolies are formed by a small group of producers or sellers who engage in limited competition.
At France's Paris-Dauphine University, raw materials specialist Philippe Chalmin said: "Companies have lots of money, which makes them potential prey."
Robust global expansion has boosted demand from emerging economies and, with limited stocks available, has pushed metal prices to record highs.
The cost of nickel, which is used to produce stainless steel, has tripled in the past year to more than US$50,000 per tonne.
The resulting pursuit of record profits has also provoked an unprecedented consolidation of metal sector.
Late last year, Brazil's CVRD snapped up Inco Ltd of Canada for US$13.3 billion to become the second biggest mining group in the world.
That deal was finalized just a few months after Swiss group Xstrata Plc bought Falconbridge Ltd at the end of a hard-fought stock market battle with Inco.
Earlier this month, the Russian mining group Norilsk Nickel joined the race for Canadian nickel producer LionOre Mining International Ltd, bidding almost US$5 billion to upstage a March bid by Xstrata.
Meanwhile, the prices of copper, lead, tin and zinc have neared record highs as well, inciting major actors in those sectors to jockey for position.
US group Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc in November announced the purchase of the US' Phelps Dodge Corp for US$25.9 billion, a move that would create the biggest US mining group and the world's leading listed copper company.
In December, Zinifex of Australia and the Belgian company Umicore announced their own tie-up to become the leader in zinc.
Gold, the price of which is expected to keep climbing this year, is shining as well.
In August, the Canadian company Goldcorp Inc got its hands on Glamis Gold Ltd of the US for US$8.6 billion and became one of the sector's leaders.
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