BHP Billiton
Encyclopedia
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil
and gas
company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mining company measured by revenue and as of February 2011 was the world's third-largest company measured by market capitalisation.
BHP Billiton was created in 2001 through the merger of the Australian Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) and the Anglo-Dutch Billiton plc. The result is a dual-listed company
. The Australian-registered BHP Billiton Limited, which is the majority partner, has its primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange
and is the largest company in Australia measured by market capitalisation
. The UK-registered BHP Billiton Plc has its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange
and is one of the largest constituents of the FTSE 100 Index
.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, BHP Co. Ltd., BHP, also known as "the Big Australian", was incorporated in 1885, operating the silver and lead mine at Broken Hill
in western New South Wales
, Australia. The Broken Hill group floated on 10 August 1885. The first consignment of Broken Hill ore (48 tons, 5 cwt, 3grs) was smelted at the Intercolonial Smelting and Refining Company's works at Spotswood, Melbourne.
In 1915, the company ventured into steel manufacturing, with its operations based primarily in Newcastle, New South Wales
. The decision to move from mining ore at Broken Hill to open a steelworks at Newcastle was due to the technical limitations in recovering value from mining the 'lower-lying sulphide ores'. The discovery of Iron Knob and Iron Monarch near the western shore of the Spencer Gulf
in South Australia combined with the development by the BHP metallurgist A. D. Carmichael of a technique for 'separating zinc sulphides from the accompanying earth and rock' led BHP 'to implement the startlingly simple and cheap process for liberating vast amounts of valuable metals out of sulphide ores, including huge heaps of tailings and slimes up to' 40 ft (12.2 m) high.
The company began petroleum exploration in the 1960s with discoveries in Bass Strait
, an activity which became an increasing focus.
BHP began to diversify offshore
in a variety of projects. One project was the Ok Tedi
copper mine in Papua New Guinea, where the company was successfully sued by the indigenous inhabitants because of the environmental degradation
caused by the mine operations. BHP had better success with the giant Escondida
copper mine in Chile (57.5% owned) and the Ekati Diamond Mine
in northern Canada.
The inefficiencies of what was, by global standards, a small steel operation in Newcastle finally caught up with the company and the Newcastle operations were closed in 1999. The 'long products' side of the steel business was spun off to form OneSteel
in 2000.
In 2001, BHP merged with the Billiton mining company to form BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world. In 2002, the 'flat products' steel business was spun off to form BHP Steel. In 2003, BHP Steel changed its name to BlueScope Steel
.
s in the Groot Keizerhof hotel in The Hague
, the Netherlands.
Two months later, the company acquired the mineral rights
to the tin
-rich islands of Banka
(Bangka) and Billiton
(Belitung) in the Indonesian archipelago
, off the eastern coast of Sumatra
.
Billiton's initial business forays included tin and lead smelting in the Netherlands, followed in the 1940s by bauxite
mining in Indonesia and Suriname. In 1970, Shell
acquired Billiton and accelerated the scope of progress of this growth. The tin and lead smelter in Arnhem
, the Netherlands, was shut down in the 1990s.
In 1994, South Africa's Gencor Ltd. acquired the mining division of Billiton excluding the downstream metal division. Billiton was divested from Gencor in 1997. Bhp Billiton remains one of the largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE, sharecode bil) in South Africa by market capitalisation.
In 1997, Billiton Plc became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
. in the UK.
Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Billiton Plc experienced considerable growth. Its portfolio included aluminium smelters in South Africa and Mozambique, nickel operations in Australia and Colombia, base metals mines in South America, Canada and South Africa, coal mines in Australia, Colombia and South Africa, as well as interests in operations in Brazil, Suriname, Australia (aluminium) and South Africa (titanium
minerals and steel and ferroalloys).
In 2001 Billiton Plc merged with the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) to form BHP Billiton.
, owners of the Olympic Dam
copper, gold and uranium mine in South Australia, nickel operations in Western Australia and Queensland, and a fertiliser plant also in Queensland. The takeover achieved 90% acceptance on 17 June 2005, and 100% ownership was announced on 2 August 2005, achieved through compulsory acquisition of the last 10% of the shares.
On 8 November 2007, BHP Billiton announced it was seeking to purchase rival mining group Rio Tinto Group
in an all-share deal. The initial offer of 3.4 shares of BHP Billiton stock for each share of Rio Tinto was rejected by the board of Rio Tinto for "significantly undervaluing" the company. It was unknown at the time whether BHP Billiton would attempt to purchase Rio Tinto through some form of hostile takeover; however, CEO Marius Kloppers met with many of Rio's shareholders following the announcement and reiterated that the offer for Rio was "compelling" and that BHP Billiton is very "patient". A formal hostile bid of 3.4 BHP Billiton shares for each Rio Tinto share was announced on 6 February 2008. The bid was withdrawn on 25 November 2008 due to a global recession.
On 14 May 2008, BHP Billiton shares rose to a record high of AU
$48.90 after speculation that Chinese mining firm Chinalco was considering purchasing a large stake. BHP representatives refused to comment.
On 25 November 2008, Billiton announced that it would drop its $66 billion takeover of rival Rio Tinto Group
saying that the "risks to shareholder value" would "increase" to "an unacceptable level" due to the global financial crisis.
In January 2010, after BHP Billiton bought Athabasca Potash for $320m, The Economist
reported that by 2020, BHP Billiton could produce approximately 15% of the world demand for potash
.
In August 2010, BHP Billiton made a hostile takeover bid worth $40 billion for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
. The bid came after BHP's first bid, made on 17 August, was rejected as being undervalued. This acquisition marked a major strategic move by BHP outside hard commodities and commenced the diversification of its business away from resources with high exposure to carbon price risk (coal, petroleum, iron ore). The takeover bid was opposed by the Government of Saskatchewan
under Premier Brad Wall
. On 3 November, Canadian Industry Minister
Tony Clement
announced the preliminary rejection of the deal under the Investment Canada Act, giving BHP Billiton 30 days to refine their deal before a final decision was made.
On 14 November 2010, the company announced that it was dropping its offer for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
In September 2011, BHP announced it's intentions to move to an owner operated mining business in Western Australia. Mining operations for 3 well established Pilbara sites was operated through contractor Leightons HWE. These contracts, plant and support services were purchased for around $700m.
in Western Australia would cease operations, with a resultant discontinuation of shipments of ore from Ravensthorpe to the Yabulu nickel plant in Queensland Australia. Subsequently the Yabulu refinery was sold to Queensland billionaire Mr Clive Palmer. Additionally, the Pinto Valley mine
in the United States was closed. In total, 6,000 employees were laid off, including those laid off with the scaling back at some other projects.
On 9 December 2009, BHP sold its Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine
, which cost A$2.4 billion to build, to Vancouver
-based First Quantum Minerals
for US$340 million. First Quantum was one of three bidders for the mine and actually produced the lowest offer. The Canadian company plans to have the mine back in production in mid-2011. Ravensthorpe cost BHP US$3.6 billion in writedowns when it was shut in January 2009 after less than a year of production.
On 22 February 2011 BHP announced that it paying cash $4.75 billion to Chesapeake Energy Corp. for all of the company's Fayetteville
shale assets which include 487000 acres (1,970.8 km²) of mineral rights leases and 420 miles (675.9 km) of pipeline located in north central Arkansas in the United States. The wells on the mineral leases are currently producing about 415 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. BHP plans to spend $800 million to $1 billion a year over 10 years to develop the field and triple production.
On 14 July 2011, BHP Billiton announced that it would acquire Petrohawk Energy
of the United States for approximately $12.1 billion in cash, considerably expanding its shale natural gas resources.
upon completion of the 44 storey City Square tower currently under construction. BHP Billiton Plc is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. BHP Billiton also has corporate centres in Johannesburg
, South Africa and Houston, USA, and offices in Perth
, Santiago
, Singapore, Shanghai and The Hague
.
The company's shares trade on the following exchanges:
Upon Gilbertson's resignation, Chip Goodyear
was announced as the new CEO. He continued in that role until his retirement on 30 September 2007.
Marius Kloppers
was his successor.
The company has ten primary operational units which it refers to as Customer Sector Groups (CSGs):
.
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mining company measured by revenue and as of February 2011 was the world's third-largest company measured by market capitalisation.
BHP Billiton was created in 2001 through the merger of the Australian Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) and the Anglo-Dutch Billiton plc. The result is a dual-listed company
Dual-listed company
A dual-listed company or DLC is a corporate structure in which two corporations function as a single operating business through a legal equalization agreement, but retain separate legal identities and stock exchange listings...
. The Australian-registered BHP Billiton Limited, which is the majority partner, has its primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
and is the largest company in Australia measured by market capitalisation
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
. The UK-registered BHP Billiton Plc has its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and is one of the largest constituents of the FTSE 100 Index
FTSE 100 Index
The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....
.
Broken Hill Proprietary Company
Broken Hill, New South Wales
-Geology:Broken Hill's massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the...
in western New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia. The Broken Hill group floated on 10 August 1885. The first consignment of Broken Hill ore (48 tons, 5 cwt, 3grs) was smelted at the Intercolonial Smelting and Refining Company's works at Spotswood, Melbourne.
The resulting 35,605 ounces of silver raised a lot of interest when exhibited at the City of Melbourne Bank in Collins St. Some sceptics asserted the promoters were merely using silver from somewhere else, to ramp up the shares...Another shareholder, the dominating W.R. Wilson had had to lend [William Jamieson, General Manager] a new suit so he could take the first prospectus, printed at Silverton near Broken Hill on 20 June 1885, to Adelaide to start the float process.
In 1915, the company ventured into steel manufacturing, with its operations based primarily in Newcastle, New South Wales
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
. The decision to move from mining ore at Broken Hill to open a steelworks at Newcastle was due to the technical limitations in recovering value from mining the 'lower-lying sulphide ores'. The discovery of Iron Knob and Iron Monarch near the western shore of the Spencer Gulf
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. The Gulf is 322 km long and 129 km wide at its mouth. The western shore of the Gulf is the Eyre Peninsula, while the eastern side is the...
in South Australia combined with the development by the BHP metallurgist A. D. Carmichael of a technique for 'separating zinc sulphides from the accompanying earth and rock' led BHP 'to implement the startlingly simple and cheap process for liberating vast amounts of valuable metals out of sulphide ores, including huge heaps of tailings and slimes up to' 40 ft (12.2 m) high.
The company began petroleum exploration in the 1960s with discoveries in Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
, an activity which became an increasing focus.
BHP began to diversify offshore
Offshoring
Offshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Even state governments employ offshoring...
in a variety of projects. One project was the Ok Tedi
Ok Tedi Mine
The Ok Tedi Mine is an open-pit copper and gold mine located near the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, in the Star Mountains Rural LLG of the North Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea...
copper mine in Papua New Guinea, where the company was successfully sued by the indigenous inhabitants because of the environmental degradation
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
caused by the mine operations. BHP had better success with the giant Escondida
Escondida
Minera Escondida, which means 'hidden' in Spanish, is a mining company that operates two open pit copper mines in the Atacama Desert, 170 km southeast of Antofagasta in northern Chile. It is currently the highest producing copper mine in the world...
copper mine in Chile (57.5% owned) and the Ekati Diamond Mine
Ekati Diamond Mine
The EKATI Diamond Mine is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine. It is located north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about south of the Arctic circle, near Lac de Gras. EKATI is a joint venture between BHP Billiton Canada Inc...
in northern Canada.
The inefficiencies of what was, by global standards, a small steel operation in Newcastle finally caught up with the company and the Newcastle operations were closed in 1999. The 'long products' side of the steel business was spun off to form OneSteel
OneSteel
OneSteel is an Australian-based mining, ore processing and steel manufacturing company specialising in steel-long products for the construction, mining, transport and agricultural industries...
in 2000.
In 2001, BHP merged with the Billiton mining company to form BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world. In 2002, the 'flat products' steel business was spun off to form BHP Steel. In 2003, BHP Steel changed its name to BlueScope Steel
BlueScope Steel
BlueScope Steel is a flat product steel producer with operations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific and North America. It was spun off from BHP Billiton in 2002 as BHP Steel and renamed BlueScope Steel on 17 November 2003...
.
Billiton
Billiton was a mining company whose origins stretch back to 29 September 1860, when the articles of association were approved by a meeting of shareholderShareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
s in the Groot Keizerhof hotel in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, the Netherlands.
Two months later, the company acquired the mineral rights
Mineral rights
- Mineral estate :Ownership of mineral rights is an estate in real property. Technically it is known as a mineral estate and often referred to as mineral rights...
to the tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
-rich islands of Banka
Bangka Island
Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. Population 626,955. Area: c.4,600 sq mi .There is an additional small island named Pulau Bangka in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia.-Geography:...
(Bangka) and Billiton
Belitung
Belitung, , is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. The island is known for its pepper and for its tin. It was in the possession of the British from 1812 until the British ceded control of the island to the Dutch in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824...
(Belitung) in the Indonesian archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
, off the eastern coast of Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
.
Billiton's initial business forays included tin and lead smelting in the Netherlands, followed in the 1940s by bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
mining in Indonesia and Suriname. In 1970, Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
acquired Billiton and accelerated the scope of progress of this growth. The tin and lead smelter in Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, the Netherlands, was shut down in the 1990s.
In 1994, South Africa's Gencor Ltd. acquired the mining division of Billiton excluding the downstream metal division. Billiton was divested from Gencor in 1997. Bhp Billiton remains one of the largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE, sharecode bil) in South Africa by market capitalisation.
In 1997, Billiton Plc became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
FTSE 100 Index
The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....
. in the UK.
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
minerals and steel and ferroalloys).
In 2001 Billiton Plc merged with the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) to form BHP Billiton.
BHP Billiton Mergers and Acquisitions
In March 2005, BHP Billiton announced a US$7.3 billion agreed bid for another mining company, WMC ResourcesWMC Resources
WMC Resources Limited was an Australian diversified mining and fertilizer company formerly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. WMC was an acronym for Western Mining Corporation. It was delisted on 29 June 2005 following a successful takeover by BHP Billiton...
, owners of the Olympic Dam
Olympic Dam, South Australia
Olympic Dam is a mining centre in South Australia located some 550 km NNW of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is the site of an extremely large iron oxide copper gold deposit producing copper, uranium, gold and silver. The site hosts an underground mine as well as an...
copper, gold and uranium mine in South Australia, nickel operations in Western Australia and Queensland, and a fertiliser plant also in Queensland. The takeover achieved 90% acceptance on 17 June 2005, and 100% ownership was announced on 2 August 2005, achieved through compulsory acquisition of the last 10% of the shares.
On 8 November 2007, BHP Billiton announced it was seeking to purchase rival mining group Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group
The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
in an all-share deal. The initial offer of 3.4 shares of BHP Billiton stock for each share of Rio Tinto was rejected by the board of Rio Tinto for "significantly undervaluing" the company. It was unknown at the time whether BHP Billiton would attempt to purchase Rio Tinto through some form of hostile takeover; however, CEO Marius Kloppers met with many of Rio's shareholders following the announcement and reiterated that the offer for Rio was "compelling" and that BHP Billiton is very "patient". A formal hostile bid of 3.4 BHP Billiton shares for each Rio Tinto share was announced on 6 February 2008. The bid was withdrawn on 25 November 2008 due to a global recession.
On 14 May 2008, BHP Billiton shares rose to a record high of AU
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
$48.90 after speculation that Chinese mining firm Chinalco was considering purchasing a large stake. BHP representatives refused to comment.
On 25 November 2008, Billiton announced that it would drop its $66 billion takeover of rival Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group
The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
saying that the "risks to shareholder value" would "increase" to "an unacceptable level" due to the global financial crisis.
In January 2010, after BHP Billiton bought Athabasca Potash for $320m, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
reported that by 2020, BHP Billiton could produce approximately 15% of the world demand for potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
.
In August 2010, BHP Billiton made a hostile takeover bid worth $40 billion for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. , also referred to as PotashCorp, is a Canadian corporation based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company is the world's largest potash producer and the third largest producers of nitrogen and phosphate, three primary crop nutrients used to produce...
. The bid came after BHP's first bid, made on 17 August, was rejected as being undervalued. This acquisition marked a major strategic move by BHP outside hard commodities and commenced the diversification of its business away from resources with high exposure to carbon price risk (coal, petroleum, iron ore). The takeover bid was opposed by the Government of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
under Premier Brad Wall
Brad Wall
Bradley John "Brad" Wall, MLA is a Canadian politician who has been the 14th Premier of Saskatchewan since November 21, 2007....
. On 3 November, Canadian Industry Minister
Minister of Industry (Canada)
The Minister of Industry is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's economic development and corporate affairs department, Industry Canada. The Minister of Industry is also the minister responsible for Statistics Canada...
Tony Clement
Tony Clement
Tony Peter Clement, PC, MP is a Canadian federal politician, President of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
announced the preliminary rejection of the deal under the Investment Canada Act, giving BHP Billiton 30 days to refine their deal before a final decision was made.
On 14 November 2010, the company announced that it was dropping its offer for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
In September 2011, BHP announced it's intentions to move to an owner operated mining business in Western Australia. Mining operations for 3 well established Pilbara sites was operated through contractor Leightons HWE. These contracts, plant and support services were purchased for around $700m.
Recent history
On 21 January 2009 the company announced that in response to the global financial crisis the BHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel ProjectBHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel Project
The BHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel Project was a project to develop a nickel mine and processing facility 35 km east of the town of Ravensthorpe, approximately 540 km south east of Perth in Western Australia in combination with an expansion to BHP Billiton's existing Yabulu refinery in...
in Western Australia would cease operations, with a resultant discontinuation of shipments of ore from Ravensthorpe to the Yabulu nickel plant in Queensland Australia. Subsequently the Yabulu refinery was sold to Queensland billionaire Mr Clive Palmer. Additionally, the Pinto Valley mine
Copper mining in Arizona
-Jerome:Native Americans used copper minerals of the Verde district at modern-day Jerome as pigment to decorate skin and textiles. The first European to visit the area is thought to be Spanish explorer Antonio de Espejo, who found silver at a location in central Arizona in 1583...
in the United States was closed. In total, 6,000 employees were laid off, including those laid off with the scaling back at some other projects.
On 9 December 2009, BHP sold its Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine
Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine
The Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine is a nickel mine located 33 km east of Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.Ravensthorpe cost BHP Billiton US$2.2 billion to build but led to $3.6 billion in write-downs when it was shut down in January 2009, after less than a year of operation...
, which cost A$2.4 billion to build, to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
-based First Quantum Minerals
First Quantum Minerals
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. is a Vancouver, British Columbia based mining and metals company whose principal activities include mineral exploration, development and mining....
for US$340 million. First Quantum was one of three bidders for the mine and actually produced the lowest offer. The Canadian company plans to have the mine back in production in mid-2011. Ravensthorpe cost BHP US$3.6 billion in writedowns when it was shut in January 2009 after less than a year of production.
On 22 February 2011 BHP announced that it paying cash $4.75 billion to Chesapeake Energy Corp. for all of the company's Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
shale assets which include 487000 acres (1,970.8 km²) of mineral rights leases and 420 miles (675.9 km) of pipeline located in north central Arkansas in the United States. The wells on the mineral leases are currently producing about 415 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. BHP plans to spend $800 million to $1 billion a year over 10 years to develop the field and triple production.
On 14 July 2011, BHP Billiton announced that it would acquire Petrohawk Energy
Petrohawk
Petrohawk Energy Corporation was an independent energy company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2003, Petrohawk grew rapidly through mergers and acquisitions....
of the United States for approximately $12.1 billion in cash, considerably expanding its shale natural gas resources.
Corporate affairs
The Australian BHP Billiton Limited and the British BHP Billiton Plc are separately listed with separate shareholder bodies, but they operate as one business with identical boards of directors and a single management structure. The headquarters of BHP Billiton Limited, and the global headquarters of the combined BHP Billiton Group, are located in Melbourne, Australia, although ex-Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett, recently suggested this would change to the Australian mining capital of Perth, Western AustraliaPerth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
upon completion of the 44 storey City Square tower currently under construction. BHP Billiton Plc is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. BHP Billiton also has corporate centres in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa and Houston, USA, and offices in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, Singapore, Shanghai and The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
.
The company's shares trade on the following exchanges:
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Management
After the merger between BHP and Billiton in 2002, Brian Gilbertson of Billiton was appointed CEO. In 2003, after just six months at the helm, he abruptly stepped down, citing irreconcilable differences with the boards.Upon Gilbertson's resignation, Chip Goodyear
Chip Goodyear
Charles Waterhouse "Chip" Goodyear V is part of the Goodyear lumber and railway family of New York and Pennsylvania.He is a Yale graduate with a science degree in geology & geophysics and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He rowed on the lightweight crew team at Yale...
was announced as the new CEO. He continued in that role until his retirement on 30 September 2007.
Marius Kloppers
Marius Kloppers
Dr Marius Kloppers is CEO of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company. He is presently the group president of BHP's non ferrous metals division.- Education :...
was his successor.
Current
BHP Billiton operates a wide variety of mining and processing operations in 25 countries, employing approximately 41,000 people.The company has ten primary operational units which it refers to as Customer Sector Groups (CSGs):
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Base metal In chemistry, the term base metal is used informally to refer to a metal that oxidizes or corrodes relatively easily, and reacts variably with diluted hydrochloric acid to form hydrogen. Examples include iron, nickel, lead and zinc... (primary products include copper, gold, lead and zinc Zinc Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2... ) Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure... Stainless steel In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass.... (nickel and cobalt Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal.... ) Uranium Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons... Titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color.... , and potash Potash Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era... minerals) |
Mines and facilities
- Algeria
- Ohanet gas field
- ROD gas field
- Angola
- Diamond exploration
- Australia
- Appin, New South WalesAppin, New South WalesAppin is a town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia in Wollondilly Shire. It is situated about 16 kilometres south of Campbelltown and 35 kilometres north west of Wollongong.-Early history:...
- Bass Strait, VictoriaBass StraitBass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
, 50% owned - Broadmeadow, Queensland
- Cannington, Queensland
- Dendrobium, New South Wales
- Elouera, New South Wales
- Goonyella Riverside, QueenslandGoonyella Riverside MineGoonyella Riverside is a large open cut coking coal mine in Queensland located 30 km North of Moranbah.The area is mainly used for coal mining. The coal is well known for its great coking characteristics....
- Gregory/Crinum, Queensland
- Griffin, Western Australia, 45% owned
- Groote Eylandt, Northern TerritoryGroote EylandtGroote Eylandt is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northeastern Australia. It is the homeland of, and is owned by, the Anindilyakwa people who speak the isolated Anindilyakwa language)....
- Hunter Valley, New South Wales
- Jimblebar , Western Australia
- Kalgoorlie, Western AustraliaKalgoorlie, Western AustraliaKalgoorlie, known as Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and is located east-northeast of state capital Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway...
- Kambalda, Western AustraliaKambalda, Western AustraliaKambalda is a small mining town about 60 kilometres from the mining city of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, within the Goldfields. It is split into two townsites 4 kilometres apart, Kambalda East and Kambalda West; and is located on the western edge of a giant salt lake, Lake Lefroy...
- Kwinana, Western AustraliaKwinana, Western AustraliaThe Town of Kwinana is a Local Government Area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately 118 square kilometres in metropolitan Perth, and lies about 38 km south of Perth's central business district, via the Kwinana Freeway...
- Leinster, Western AustraliaLeinster, Western AustraliaLeinster is a town in the northern goldfields area of Western Australia. The town is located 4 km east of the Goldfields Highway, in the Shire of Leonora Local Government Area, northeast of the state capital, Perth...
- Minerva offshore, Victoria, 90% owned
- Mining Area C , Western Australia
- Mount Keith, Western Australia
- Mount Whaleback, Western Australia
- North West Shelf VentureNorth West Shelf VentureThe North West Shelf Venture, situated in the north-west of Western Australia, is Australia's largest resource development project. It involves the extraction of petroleum at offshore production platforms, onshore processing and export of liquefied natural gas, and production of natural gas for...
, Western Australia, 16.67% LNG phase, 8.33% domestic gas phase - Norwich Park, Queensland
- Olympic Dam, South AustraliaOlympic Dam, South AustraliaOlympic Dam is a mining centre in South Australia located some 550 km NNW of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is the site of an extremely large iron oxide copper gold deposit producing copper, uranium, gold and silver. The site hosts an underground mine as well as an...
- Ore Body 18 , Western Australia
- Ore Body 23/25 , Western Australia
- Peak Downs, QueenslandPeak Downs MinePeak Downs is a large open cut coking coal mine in Queensland located 31 km SSE of Moranbah. Peak Downs is one of seven mines in Bowen Basin owned by BMA, Australia’s largest coal miner and exporter. Production at Peak Downs started in 1972....
- Port Hedland, Western AustraliaPort Hedland, Western AustraliaPort Hedland is the highest tonnage port in Australia and largest town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with a population of approximately 14,000 ....
- Saraji, Queensland
- Temco George Town, Tasmania
- West Cliff, New South Wales
- Worsley, Western AustraliaWorsley, Western AustraliaWorsley is a town in Western Australia located in the South West region near the town of Collie. The town is part of the Shire of Collie.The town's name comes from the Worsley river, a tributary of the Collie river, that is located nearby. The origin of the name is thought to be from the Worsley...
- Yabulu, QueenslandYabulu, QueenslandYabulu is a small residential suburb approximately 25 kilometres north of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census the population of Yabulu was 603.Yabulu is the site of a major nickel and cobalt refinery, owned by Clive Palmer...
, nickel refinery - Yandi, Western Australia
- Yarrie , Western Australia
- Appin, New South Wales
- Brazil
- AlumarAlumarAlumar is a village in Ancuabe District in Cabo Delgado Province in northeastern Mozambique.-External links:*...
aluminium smelter/refinery – Sao Luis - Samarco iron ore mine and pelletizing plant – Belo Horizonte
- Alumar
- Canada
- Ekati Diamond MineEkati Diamond MineThe EKATI Diamond Mine is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine. It is located north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about south of the Arctic circle, near Lac de Gras. EKATI is a joint venture between BHP Billiton Canada Inc...
- PotashPotashPotash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
Development, SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
- Ekati Diamond Mine
- Chile
- EscondidaEscondidaMinera Escondida, which means 'hidden' in Spanish, is a mining company that operates two open pit copper mines in the Atacama Desert, 170 km southeast of Antofagasta in northern Chile. It is currently the highest producing copper mine in the world...
- Cerro Colorado
- Spence
- Escondida
- Colombia
- CerrejónCerrejónCerrejón is a coal mine located in the Guajira department in the north of Colombia. It is the largest mining operation in Colombia and among the largest open-pit coal mines in the world. The legal entity managing the Cerrejón operation is known as Carbones del Cerrejón Ltd...
, 33.3% owned coal mine in Guajira department - Cerro Matoso, ferronickel mine in CórdobaCórdoba DepartmentCórdoba is a Department of the Republic of Colombia located to the north of this country in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Córdoba faces to the north with the Caribbean sea, to the northeast with the Sucre Department, east with the Bolívar Department and south with the Antioquia Department...
department
- Cerrejón
- Guinea
- SangarediSangarédiSangarédi is mining town and sub-prefecture in western Guinea, where bauxite is mined. The ore is shipped by a railway to the port of Kamsar. Population 20,638 . In April 2010, an expansion of the mine and its refinery were proposed.- Maps :*...
33.3% interest in bauxite mine and alumina refinery (currently in feasibility study)
- Sangaredi
- Indonesia
- WetarWetarThe tropical island of Wetar belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Barat Daya Islands . It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which include nearby Alor and Timor, but it is politically part of the Maluku Islands...
gold mine
- Wetar
- Iraq
- Halfaya FieldHalfaya FieldHalfaya Field is an oil field, located east of Amarah, Iraq. Halfaya is proven to hold of recoverable reserve and has production potential of but only produces currently....
oil field
- Halfaya Field
- Mozambique
- MozalMozalMozal is the largest aluminium producer in Mozambique and the second-largest in Africa having a total annual production of around 530,000 tonnes. Ownership is BHP Billiton, Mitsubishi Corporation, IFC and the Government of Mozambique...
, aluminium smelter
- Mozal
- * Pakistan
- ZamzamaZamzamaThe Zamzama Gun, also known as Kim’s Gun or Bhangianwala Toap is a large bore cannon. It was cast in 1757 in Lahore, now in Pakistan but at the time part of the Durrani Empire...
gas field
- Zamzama
- Peru
- Antamina
- South Africa
- Bayside, 100% owned aluminium smelter in Richards Bay
- Hillside, 100% owned aluminium smelter in Richards Bay
- BECSA (BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa), comprises several coal mines in the Witbank/Emalahleni area in MpumalangaMpumalangaMpumalanga , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...
- Metalloys manganese production facility in Meyerton, GautengMeyerton, GautengMeyerton is a small town lying 15 km north of Vereeniging in Gauteng, South Africa. Situated in the local municipality of Midvaal and the district municipality of Sedibeng.-History:...
- HMM (Hotazel Manganese Mines) including Mamatwan and Wessels mines near Hotazel in the Northern Cape
- Suriname
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Angostura oil & gas field
- United Kingdom
- Liverpool BayLiverpool BayLiverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence...
oil & gas field
- Liverpool Bay
- United States
- Fayetteville Shale, Arkansas, shale natural gas fields, including the associated midstreamMidstreamThe petroleum industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. Midstream operations are usually included in the downstream category....
pipeline system - New Mexico Coal Company, coal mine in New MexicoNew MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
consisting of San Juan and Navajo mines - Southwest Copper, Arizona
- San Manuel, Arizona
- Pinto Valley, Arizona
- Gulf of Mexico, Oil and Gas field (Shenzi & Neptune fields)
- Resolution CopperResolution copperResolution Copper, , is a joint venture owned by Rio Tinto and BHP, formed to develop and operate an underground copper mine on deeded, unpatented and land removed from mining by executive order at Superior, Arizona, U.S. The project targets a deep-seated porphyry copper deposit located under the...
, near Superior, Arizona
- Fayetteville Shale, Arkansas, shale natural gas fields, including the associated midstream
Nickel West
In Western Australia, BHP's nickel operations are combined under the Nickel West Operation, which includes the Mount Keith Nickel Mine, the Leinster Nickel Mine, the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator, the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter and the Kwinana Nickel Refinery. Production figures published by the company at the end of 2008 are for the whole Nickel West Operations and not broken down to individual mines. In the calendar year 2008 Nickel West produced 85,800 tonnes of nickel. At the time, Nickel West also included the Ravensthorpe Nickel MineRavensthorpe Nickel Mine
The Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine is a nickel mine located 33 km east of Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.Ravensthorpe cost BHP Billiton US$2.2 billion to build but led to $3.6 billion in write-downs when it was shut down in January 2009, after less than a year of operation...
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Former
- Papua New Guinea (until 2002)
- Ok Tedi MineOk Tedi MineThe Ok Tedi Mine is an open-pit copper and gold mine located near the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, in the Star Mountains Rural LLG of the North Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea...
, copper, cause of a large-scale ecological disasterOk Tedi Environmental DisasterThe Ok Tedi environmental disaster, due to the annual discharge of millions of tons of mining waste, has harmed the environment and livelihood of 50,000 people who live on or near the Ok Tedi River in Papua New Guinea...
in the Ok Tedi and FlyFly RiverThe Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...
rivers.
- Ok Tedi Mine
- The United Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeThe United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
has noted that BHP’s Ok Tedi mine site’s "uncontrolled discharge of 70 million tonnes of waste rock and mine tailings annually has spread more than 1 0 km (0 mi) down the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers, raising river beds and causing flooding, sediment deposition, forest damage, and a serious decline in the area's biodiversity." The resulting devastation caused by the mining of Ok Tedi has included the loss of fish, a vital food source for the local community; loss of forest and crops due to flooding and; the loss of "areas of deep spiritual value for villagers are now submerged in mine tailings."
Corporate social responsibility
BHP Billiton is a signatory participant of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.Accidents
Inclement weather caused a BHP Billiton helicopter to crash in Angola on 16 November 2007, killing the helicopter's five passengers. The dead were: BHP Billiton Angola Chief Operating Officer David Hopgood, Australian; Angola Technical Services Operations Manager Kevin Ayre, British; Wild Dog Helicopters pilot Kottie Breedt, South African; Guy Sommerfield of MMC, British; and Louwrens Prinsloo of Prinsloo Drilling, Namibian. The helicopter went down approximately 80 km / 50 miles from Alto Cuilo exploration facility in north eastern Angola. BHP Billiton responded by suspending operations in the country.See also
- Ok Tedi Environmental DisasterOk Tedi Environmental DisasterThe Ok Tedi environmental disaster, due to the annual discharge of millions of tons of mining waste, has harmed the environment and livelihood of 50,000 people who live on or near the Ok Tedi River in Papua New Guinea...
- BHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel ProjectBHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel ProjectThe BHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel Project was a project to develop a nickel mine and processing facility 35 km east of the town of Ravensthorpe, approximately 540 km south east of Perth in Western Australia in combination with an expansion to BHP Billiton's existing Yabulu refinery in...
External links
- London Stock ExchangeLondon Stock ExchangeThe London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
BHP Billiton PLC (BLT) stock quote - Australian Securities ExchangeAustralian Securities ExchangeThe Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP) stock quote - BHP Billiton Products & Services, Competitors and Contact Details