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Copper Briefing and Site Tour

1st Dec 2015 10:54

RNS Number : 5467H
BHP Billiton PLC
01 December 2015
 



Issued by:

BHP Billiton Plc

 

Date:

1 December 2015

 

To:

London Stock Exchange

JSE Limited

 

For Release:

Immediately

 

Contact:

Elizabeth Hobley +44 207 802 4054

 

 

BHP Billiton Plc - Copper Briefing and Site Tour

 

 

 

UK Listing Authority Submissions

 

BHP Billiton President, Copper, Danny Malchuk, will host a Copper briefing and site tour on Tuesday, 1 December 2015.

The following document has today been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at www.hemscott.com/nsm.do:

 

· Copper Briefing and Site Tour Presentation

 

The document may also be accessed via BHP Billiton's website - www.bhpbilliton.com

 

BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209

Registered in England and Wales

Registered Office: Neathouse Place London SW1V 1LH United Kingdom

A member of the BHP Billiton Group which is headquartered in Australia

 

NEWS RELEASE

Release Time

IMMEDIATE

Date

1 December 2015

Number

30/15

Building momentum in Copper

 BHP Billiton President Copper, Daniel Malchuk, today announced plans to lower copper unit costs to US$1.08 per pound in the 2017 financial year, supporting strong cash margins even at today's prices. Over this period, the release of latent capacity across the portfolio will also help annual Group copper production grow to approximately 1.7 Mt at very low cost. This strong recovery will be supported by our differentiated water and power solutions in Chile which will provide us with a significant competitive advantage.

Mr Malchuk reinforced BHP Billiton's commitment to sustainability saying, "We value safe, sustainable operations above all else. We are enhancing verification for critical controls across all our assets and have brought forward our regular review of our tailings facilities.

Referring to the copper market, he said while near-term oversupply is weighing on current prices, attractive long-term fundamentals continue to support our positive outlook. "We see a number of factors creating the conditions for a significant supply deficit by the end of the decade. Grade decline, falling investment across the sector, the lack of greenfield projects and challenges accessing sustainable power and water are all likely to constrain industry supply. Meanwhile we expect robust demand from China and non-OECD countries to add to the deficit.

Mr Malchuk said BHP Billiton's Copper portfolio comprised of large, long life assets competitively positioned on the cost curve. "We have the industry's largest copper resource and our business will gain momentum over the next two years with lower costs and higher production across our major assets as we safely improve productivity.

"At Escondida, no major investment is required to sustain an average 1.2 million tonnes per annum of production capacity for the decade from the 2016 financial year, and the asset is expected to generate strong free cash flow through the cycle.

"Olympic Dam unit costs are expected to fall 48 per cent1 by the end of the 2017 financial year to US$1.00 per pound, repositioning the asset at the low end of the cost curve. Over the same period, Spence unit costs are expected to fall 10 per cent to 87 US cents per pound. Low cost debottlenecking projects will release latent capacity, supporting sustainable production of approximately 200 ktpa at both Olympic Dam and Spence from the 2016 financial year.

"We are also pursuing further growth opportunities which offer attractive returns. The Spence Growth Option has advanced to the feasibility stage with the potential for first production in the 2020 financial year. And we continue to create staged optionality for substantial long-term growth at Olympic Dam. These opportunities will enable us to bring on production at a time that coincides with an expected price recovery."

 

Further information on BHP Billiton can be found at: www.bhpbilliton.com.

Media Relations

 

Australia

 

Emily Perry

Tel: +61 3 9609 2800 Mobile: +61 477 325 803

email: [email protected]

 

Paul Hitchins

Tel: + 61 3 9609 2592 Mobile: + 61 419 315 001

email: [email protected]

 

Eleanor Nichols

Tel: +61 3 9609 2360 Mobile: +61 407 064 748

email: [email protected]

 

United Kingdom and Americas

 

Ruban Yogarajah

Tel: +44 20 7802 4033 Mobile: +44 7827 082 022

email: [email protected]

 

Jennifer White

Tel: +44 20 7802 7462 Mobile: +44 7827 253 764

email: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

Investor Relations

 

Australia

 

Tara Dines

Tel: +61 3 9609 2222 Mobile: +61 499 249 005

email: [email protected]

 

Andrew Gunn

Tel: +61 3 9609 3575 Mobile: +61 402 087 354 email: [email protected]

 

United Kingdom and South Africa

 

Jonathan Price

Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +44 7990 527 726

email: [email protected]

 

Dean Simon

Tel: +44 20 7802 7461 Mobile: +44 7717 511 193

email: [email protected]

 

Americas

 

James Agar

Tel: +1 212 310 1421 Mobile: +1 347 882 3011

email: [email protected]

 

Joseph Suarez

Tel: +1 212 310 1422 Mobile: +1 646 400 3803

email: [email protected]

 

BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077

Registered in Australia

Registered Office: Level 16, 171 Collins Street

Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia

Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015

 

BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209

Registered in England and Wales

Registered Office: Neathouse Place

London SW1V 1LH United Kingdom

Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111

 

Members of the BHP Billiton Group which is headquartered in Australia

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This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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