US miner Peabody has kicked plenty of tyres in the Australian coal sector in the past couple of years, but might have found the perfect moment to rope Coronado Global Resources into a $9.2 billion, pan-Pacific merger.

Coronado’s Australian shares surged 8 per cent on Wednesday on confirmation that talks were underway with Peabody over a potential “combination” of two companies that both mine coal in Australia and the United States.