As the man in control of the merging Glencore and Xstrata, Glasenberg is in a position of power perhaps unseen in the history of mining.

Not only has he emerged with a personal 10% stake in a business worth an estimated $70 billion, but all rivals for the top job have been moved aside thanks to investor rejection of controversial retention bonuses for Xstrata executives.

The departure of Xstrata chairman John Bond was the first hint of what’s to come, with Glasenberg’s colleague (and rival) Mick Davis soon to vacate his job as Xstrata chief executive and then to leave the merged businesses.

For a little while, Glasenberg and his inner circle of advisers at Glencore will busy themselves with shuffling staff and overseeing the integration of two companies, which were always destined to merge but which are now actually doing it.

But, once the pieces of the new business are in place, and government approvals obtained (including the possible sale of some zinc assets), the real game can re-start – and that, for Glasenberg, is aggressive growth via acquisition.

Never satisfied with what he has achieved, Glasenberg has been a man on a mission all his life and his next mission could shape the mining world for much of the coming century because he now has the firepower to capture and tame virtually any rival in world business.

Glasenberg has achieved his dominance of the commodities industry at astonishing speed, with mining just one part of the greater Glencore.

In little more than a decade he has planned and executed a series of stunning takeovers that include one-time mining giants in their own right - MIM in Australia and Falconbridge in Canada - while also finding time to grow the soft commodities business with deals such as the acquisition of big grain trader Viterra.

Today, the man who has never stopped dealing after earning his masters of business administration in commodities from the University of Southern California is poised to push the expanded Glencore to even greater heights, because to stop growing would be as unthinkable as a fish forgetting to swim.

Anglo American is undoubtedly his preferred acquisition because it falls into the category of unfinished business and is a company suffering from severe internal management upheaval, which includes the imminent departure of chief executive Cynthia Carroll.

Three years ago Xstrata launched a hostile takeover for Anglo American, only to be rejected by investors who preferred to see if Carroll could inject some life into the business. She couldn’t, as can be seen in Anglo American’s poor share price compared with its mining peers and the problems in its copper and platinum business units.

This time around, Anglo American shareholders might gleefully accept the opportunity to join the winning team at Glencore/Xstrata.

Fortescue would be a harder deal for Glasenberg because it is a company run by an equally determined entrepreneur, Andrew Forrest, and while there is personal unfinished business between the two men it would require a Forrest surrender for Glasenberg to succeed, and that’s unlikely.

The last time Forrest and Glasenberg bumped heads was in the final days of the ill-fated Anaconda Nickel, a business founded by Forrest but now controlled by Glencore under its new name of Minara Resources.

Amusing as it is to picture a re-match between the two billionaires, it is unlikely to happen because of the personal history and the high debt levels in Fortescue which make it a fairly unpalatable acquisition.

Other possible mining targets for the newly enlarged Glencore include Canadian-listed First Quantum, which has African copper and Australian nickel on its books, and the East European and African focussed Eurasian Natural Resources.

There is, however, a problem with the four possible takeover targets mentioned – each might be too small for a man with Glasenberg’s ambitions.

It is possible that two much bigger targets are on his Christmas shopping list; Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, two giants of the mining world with chief executives under pressure and relatively low share prices.

For most people it is hard to imagine someone targeting BHP Billiton or Rio Tinto, but Glasenberg is not just anyone. He’s a man on a mission and he has a habit of winning and the determination to tackle any challenge.