Reuters The Canadian government has approved Glencore39;s 6.93 billion acquisition of miner Teck Resources39; steelmaking coal unit with strict conditions to preserve jobs, the country39;s industry minister said on Thursday.

To secure the approval, Glencore has agreed to maintain Canadian headquarters for Elk Valley Resources EVR for at least 10 years, ensure a majority of the directors of EVR are Canadians, and maintain significant employment levels at EVR for no less than five years, the ministry said.

In a separate statement, Teck said it would use the deal proceeds to buy back up to C2.75 billion 2 billion of its Class B subordinate voting shares, reduce its debt by up to 2 billion and fund nearterm copper growth.

The miner said it expects the deal to close by July 11.

Today I approved under strict conditions a much narrower transaction whereby Glencore will acquire Teck Resources metallurgical coal business, Industry Minister FrancoisPhilippe Champagne said in a statement.

He flagged that going forward Canada will set a high bar on netbenefit reviews when assessing mergers and acquisitions of important Canadian companies in the critical minerals space.

Henceforth, such transactions will only be found of net benefit in the most exceptional of circumstances, Champagne said.

Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said in a statement the company has made significant commitments to the Canadian government to ensure the transaction benefits Canada and British Columbia in the…