The decision by Anglo American’s board to unanimously reject BHP’s $60 billion takeover won’t surprise anyone inside the headquarters of the Big Australian. And it won’t stop BHP’s pursuit of a deal that can make it the global king of copper, the world’s hottest commodity.

But make no mistake. Mike Henry’s BHP is nothing like the empire-building mining giants of old. Henry has proven he will happily walk away from deals before BHP is in any danger of overpaying, most notably in a takeover tussle for a Canadian nickel junior with Andrew Forrest a few years ago.