“BHP put forward a revised proposal to the Anglo American board that we strongly believe would be a win-win for BHP and Anglo American shareholders. We are disappointed that this second proposal has been rejected,” Henry said.

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“BHP is disappointed that the Anglo American Board has chosen not to engage with BHP with respect to the revised proposal and the improved terms.”

The Australian miner said it had sweetened the terms of its bid on May 7, just two weeks shy of its initial offer becoming public.

Its new offer would increase Anglo American shareholders’ ownership of the combined post-merger group to 16.6 per cent, up from the first offer’s figure of 14.8 per cent.

BHP is proposing to give 0.8132 BHP shares for each ordinary share in Anglo American, valuing the London-listed company at about $64 billion.

It also wants to spin off Anglo’s Kumba Iron Ore and Anglo American Platinum business before merging the two companies. The demerger would mean Anglo gives all its holdings in the two companies to its existing shareholders before the businesses are combined, shielding BHP from two potentially tricky operations.

Platinum is used in catalytic converters for internal combustion engines and faces uncertainty from the onslaught of electric vehicles and Anglo’s iron ore business in South Africa is plagued by unstable transport and energy networks.

In an attempt to soften investor opposition, BHP said it would assume the liabilities and other transaction-related costs associated with demerging the businesses, a key concern for Anglo’s shareholders.

Anglo’s curt dismissal of BHP’s second proposal echoes a similarly quick rejection of BHP’s initial offer as “opportunistic”. It valued the London-headquartered company at about $60 billion.