Xstrata plc operates as a diversified mining company. The company operates in various commodity markets, including copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium, and zinc. It produces cooking coal and thermal coal in Australia and South Africa, as well as exports coal to power companies and steel mills in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Korea, Israel, Japan, Brazil, the Americas, and Taiwan. The company conducts copper mining and processing operations in north Queensland, Australia, north Chile, northwest Argentina, southern Peru, and in Ontario and Quebec in Canada. It manages recycling plants in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Xstrata plc also produces zinc concentrates and refined zinc used for galvanizing steel, as well as for applications in the manufacture of die-cast alloys, brass, zinc oxides, and chemicals. Its zinc and lead operations comprise zinc smelting plants, zinc-lead mines, and lead refinery and recycling plants in northern Spain, northern Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In addition, the company produces and exports ferrochrome, and vanadium pentoxide and ferrovanadium; and recycles and processes nickel and cobalt-bearing materials by operating mines and processing facilities in Canada, Norway, and the Dominican Republic. It sells nickel, ferronickel, and cobalt to consumer and household products, automotive, medical equipment, power generation, telecommunication, aerospace, and transportation equipment markets. Further, the company has additional exposures to gold, cobalt, lead, and silver, as well as a suite of global technologies. Xstrata plc is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland.