Swiss mining giant Xstrata and commodities trader Glencore announced Tuesday they had pushed back further the date to finalise their merger as they wait for approval from Chinese authorities.

The companies pushed back the so-called long stop date for the merger to create a global mining and commodities leader to May 2 from April 16.

"Glencore believes that it has had constructive discussions with the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and that these discussions are now in their final stages," the company said in a statement.

But Glencore said it does not expect to receive the final decision from Chinese regulators for the merger to be completed by April 16, so the date was pushed back in agreement with Xstrata.

The delay in receiving approval from Chinese regulators had already caused the two companies to push back the merger date from March 5.

If it obtains the final regulatory approval from the Chinese and completes the court process as set out in the merger agreement, Glencore-Xstrata would enter the stage among the world's top commodities companies, along with BHP Billiton, Vale and Rio Tinto.

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GLENCORE INTERNATIONAL

XSTRATA