Glencore shareholders get $4.5-bn windfall as coal prices soar

Company to pay out $3 bn in share buyback, also promises $1.45-bn special dividend; adjusted EBITDA more than doubles to $18.92 bn

 Shareholders Glencore reaped a multi-billion dollar windfall on Thursday as the company's adherence to thermal coal mining at a time of soaring prices of the material generated record profits for the mining and commodity trading group.

Unlike rivals which bowed to investor pressure to exit fossil fuels, Glencore mines millions of tonnes of thermal coal, whose prices have reached record highs reflecting shortages during protracted COVID-related lockdowns and the war in Ukraine, and trades millions of barrels of crude oil a