A banker who played a key role in the BHP Billiton merger has reportedly told fund managers in London that the coming together of Rito Tinto and Glencore is inevitable, despite the rebuff Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg received from Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh when he raised the possibility earlier this year. Their coming together would create a mining and marketing concern worth $160-billion, and achieve potential cost savings of $1.8-billion, Bloomberg has reported. One would think that current poor commodity conditions would drive the two into each other’s arms, given that Glencore has trading savvy to offer. But the opposite has been true so far, despite the blow Rio has received from this year’s 45% iron-ore price fall and an unfortunate souring of relations with Chinalco, of China, which Glencore appears to be courting.