Anglo-American has had three smaller copper mines for sale in Chile this year. They are about to report the leading bidder.

One of the leading contenders is thought to be Mick Davis of X2Resources, which is a fund with about $5.5B in money. This was set up by Mick Davis, formerly of Xstrata.

This is what he had to say:

“Are we towards the bottom of the market? Yes. Whether we have reached the bottom of the market, I would not know,” he told the newspaper.

“When I look at where multiples have gone to on listed entities, and what is becoming available in potentially bilateral private transactions . . . I think this year seems to me a year when deals will be done,” he said.