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Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) 1895 <br> Billiton plc 1860 <br> Merger of BHP & Billiton 2001(creation of DLC )
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Melbourne , Australia (main headquarters), and London , England (secondary headquarters)
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Charles (Chip) Goodyear (CEO)
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36,000
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Mining
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Iron , Diamond s, Coal , Petroleum , Bauxite , Copper , Nickel , Uranium
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$29587 billion USD (YE 30 June 2005)
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is the world's largest
Mining company. It was formed through the
2001 merger of the
Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP), an
Australia n company, and
Billiton , a British company with extensive operations in
South Africa . They came together to form a
Dual-listed Company . The Australian ''BHP Billiton Limited'' and the British ''BHP Billiton Plc'' are separate listed companies and have separate shareholder bodies, but they operate as one business with identical boards of directors and a single management structure. The Australian company owns around 60% of the operating business and the main headquarters is in
Melbourne . The British holding company owns the other 40% and there is a secondary headquarters in
London .
The company operates a wide variety of mining and processing operations in 25 countries, including
Iron ,
Diamond s,
Coal ,
Petroleum ,
Bauxite amongst other metals and mined products, with a total workforce of 36,000 people.
In March
2005 BHP Billiton announced a
US$ 7.3
Billion agreed bid for another mining company
WMC Resources , owners of the
Olympic Dam uranium mine in
South Australia , along with nickel, mineral sands and fertiliser mines in other places. 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.
The group publishes its accounts in US Dollars. Its turnover for the year ended 30 June 2005 was $29.587 billion. Profit before tax was $8.741 billion and profit for the year was $6.398 billion. Both of these figures were up around 90% on the previous year as BHP Billiton benefitted from a global escalation of commodity prices.
The or '''BHP''' was incorporated in
1895 , operating the mine at
Broken Hill in western
New South Wales .
In
1915 , the company ventured into
Steel manufacturing; its operations were mainly based at
Newcastle, New South Wales . The company grew to become Australia's largest.
The company began petroleum exploration in the
1960s with discoveries in
Bass Strait , an activity which became an increasing focus as their manufacturing operations began to become less profitable with the opening of the Australian economy. They began to diversify
Offshore in a variety of projects. One infamous project was the
Ok Tedi Copper mine in
Papua New Guinea , where the company was successfully sued by the indigenous inhabitants because of
The Environment al damage caused by the mine operations.
The inefficiencies of what was, by global standards, a small steel operation in Newcastle finally caught up with the company and Newcastle operations were slowly wound down in the
1990s , leaving
Port Kembla as their only
Iron smelter. 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 , now one of the largest mining companies in the world.
The 'flat products' side of steel business was spun off to form
BHP Steel in
2002 , as part of the merger.
BHP Steel itself was renamed to BlueScope Steel in late
2003 .
was the name of a
Dutch and later
British -based
Mining Company .
Billiton (mining co.) origins stretch back to
29 September 1860 , when the articles of association were approved by a meeting of
Shareholder s in the ''Groot Keizerhof''
Hotel in
The Hague , Netherlands.
Two months later, the company acquired the
Mineral Rights to
Tin -rich islands of
Banka and
Billiton 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 ,
Royal Dutch/Shell acquired Billiton and accelerated the scope of progress of this growth. The tin and lead smelter in
Arnhem , Netherlands is shut down in the 80s.
In
1997 , Billiton Plc became a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index .
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 (BHP) to form
BHP Billiton .
- Australia
- --- Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
- --- Kambalda, Western Australia
- --- Leinster, Western Australia
- --- Mount Keith, Western Australia
- --- Mount Whaleback, Western Australia
- --- Worsley, Western Australia
- --- Ravensthorpe, Western Australia
- --- Griffin, Western Australia , 45% owned
- --- North West Shelf, Western Australia , 16.67% LNG phase, 8.33% domestic gas phase
- --- Port Hedland, Western Australia
- --- Cannington, Queensland
- --- Goonyella/Riverside, Queensland
- --- Peak Downs, Queensland
- --- Norwich Park, Queensland
- --- Saraji, Queensland
- --- Gregory / Crinum, Queensland
- --- Blackwater, Queensland
- --- Moura, Queensland
- --- Yabulu, Queensland (Nickel Refinery)
- --- Olympic Dam, South Australia
- --- Hunter Valley, New South Wales
- --- Appin, New South Wales
- --- Elouera, New South Wales
- --- West Cliff, New South Wales
- --- Dendrobium, New South Wales
- --- Minerva Offshore, Victoria , 90% owned
- --- Bass Strait, Victoria , 50% owned
- --- Bell Bay, Tasmania , 60% owned
- Canada
- --- Ekati Diamond Mine
- Chile
- --- Escondida
- --- Cerro Colorado
- Colombia
- --- Cerrejón , 33.3% owned coal mine in Guajira department
- --- Cerro Matoso , ferronickel mine in Córdoba department
- Indonesia
- --- Wetar gold mine
- Mozambique
- --- Mozal , aluminum smelter
- Pakistan
- --- Zamzama, Karachi
- Papua New Guinea
- --- (until 2002) Ok Tedi Mine , copper, cause of a large-scale ecological disaster down the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers
- South Africa
- --- Bayside , 100% owned aluminium smelter in Richards Bay
- --- Hillside , 100% owner aluminium smelter in Richards Bay
- --- Ingwe Coal , comprises several coal mine in the Witbank area in Norther Gauteng
- USA
- --- New Mexico Coal Company , coal mine in New Mexico consisting of San Juan and Navajo mine
BHP Billiton is one of a dominant trio of integrated global mining companies. The other two are:
Former division of BHP Billiton 'BHP STEEL' renamed to Bluescope Steel.
