Cleveland-Cliffs has agreed to buy Alpha Natural Resources, an Appalachian coal mining company, for nearly $10bn in cash and stock, in another indication that companies with solid credit ratings and a strong strategic rationale can still ink deals in spite of tight lending markets.

The rumble over coal mining consolidation has turned to a roar this year as global shortages of metallurgical coal, a main ingredient in steelmaking, have pushed prices sharply skyward.