Old Rio mines bolster BHP-Billiton

Added production from mines acquired in the Rio Algom takeover nudged BHP-Billiton‘s (BHP-N) copper production past the 1-million-tonne mark for the fiscal year ended June 30.

The newly merged miner’s copper production rose to 1.02 million tonnes from 847,500 tonnes in fiscal 1999-2000. Production of nearly all non-ferrous metals grew for BHP-Billiton, compared with consolidated pre-merger figures for the previous fiscal year. Aluminum production increased to 984,000 tonnes from 883,000 tonnes in the previous year, zinc production was 10% higher at 140,174 tonnes, and nickel operations turned out 60,800 tonnes, an increase of 12%.

At the Antamina project in central Peru, where BHP-Billiton owns a 33.75% interest, construction is largely finished and the mine has shipped its first load of concentrate to co-owner Noranda‘s (NRD-T) Gaspe copper smelter in Quebec.

At the Escondida copper mine in Chile, where BHP owns a 57.5% interest and shares the project with Rio Tinto (RTP-N) and a Japanese consortium led by Mitsubishi, a US$1-billion expansion project is still on schedule for completion in late 2002. The project, which will bring Escondida’s capacity to 1.2 million tonnes copper annually, should be in full production by April 2003.

Another large project in the works is the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia. BHP recently bought Australian-listed partner Comet Resources out of the project for A$28 million and the return of BHP’s 20% shareholding in Comet. Feasibility studies are under way for the purpose of developing Ravensthorpe, another dry-laterite nickel mine using pressure-acid-leach technology.

At the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, higher ore grades and throughputs combined to increase diamond production 10% year-over-year. Ekati produced 1.4 million carats in fiscal 2000-2001, up from 1.3 million a year ago. BHP-Billiton’s iron ore and coking coal operations also saw production increases, while its thermal coal and crude oil numbers remained steady.