BHP Billiton Outlines Path For Its Coal Business To Improve Returns

(RTTNews) - BHP Billiton (BHP.AX, BLT.L, BBL, BHP) outlined the path for its Coal business to improve returns by unlocking productivity, reducing costs and releasing latent capacity.

"Rather than waiting for higher prices, we have been deliberate in shaping a quality, focused portfolio that allows us to deliver value in challenging market conditions and positions us well for an expected longer-term improvement in coal market fundamentals," Mike Henry President Operations Minerals Australia told investors at a Coal briefing.

BHP Billiton said its Coal business has delivered over US$3 billion of productivity gains since 2012 and targets another US$600 million by the end of the 2017 financial year.

The company noted that it continues to work hard under our new operating model to improve its performance.

"Even in today's difficult environment, all of our operations remain cash positive.........Against the backdrop of greater uncertainty in the outlook for thermal coal, we are confident that base demand in emerging economies will remain resilient for decades to come and our higher quality coals position us well in an increasingly carbon constrained world," Mike Henry said.