Shareholders in Xstrata approved its £4.1bn ($5.9bn) rights issue on Monday, but there was a sizeable protest vote against its $2bn acquisition of Colombian coal assets from Glencore, its biggest shareholder.

The Anglo-Swiss mining group got the go-ahead to issue two new shares for every existing share at a discounted price of 210p each, with more than 95 per cent of votes cast backing the three resolutions related to the rights issue. Xstrata will use the proceeds to repair its balance sheet, cutting its debt burden from $16.3bn to $12.7bn.