Australian conglomerate The Broken Hill Proprietary Co., with interests in mining, oil and gas and steel production, is looking to grow internationally.
“We actively seek to expand our overseas investments,” Geoffrey Heeley, a director and executive general manager finance of BHP, told a recent luncheon gathering of the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts in Toronto. More than 25% of BHP’s assets are outside of Australia, Heeley said, and 63% of the company’s sales revenue is derived from outside of the home country. BHP traces its origins back to 1885 and the development of a silver-lead deposit at Broken Hill in Australia.
In Canada, subsidiary BHP-Utah Mines produces copper in British Columbia and nickel in northern Ontario, and is involved in a variety of exploration plays across the country.
At the Island Copper mine on Vancouver Island, BHP experienced a decline in profit during the 1991 fiscal year ended May 31, it said, because of the mining of lower-grade ore. To extend operations there and hopefully boost the grade, the company has built a concrete barrier to push back the mine walls beyond the original ocean shoreline.
Near Timmins, Ont., BHP has a 49% interest in the Redstone nickel mine. Its partner there is mine operator Timmins Nickel.
On the exploration side, BHP and Dia Met Minerals are involved in a diamond hunt at the Point Lake project in the Northwest Territories. A 180-tonne bulk sample is planned by the companies this winter.
Among BHP’s projects elsewhere in the world is the 57.5% owned Escondida copper mine in Chile, which entered commercial production in December, 1990. Heeley said Escondida is the third largest copper mining operation in the world and will soon account for about 4% of global copper production. Besides copper, nickel and gold, BHP’s mineral production includes coal, manganese and iron ore.
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