BHP Billiton To Increase Productivity Despite Lower Price Environment

(RTTNews) - BHP Billiton Ltd. (BH.AX, BLT.L, BBL, BHP) Tuesday said it continue to increase its productivity in Port and Rail, despite a lower price environment. The company is approaching its targeted run rate of approximately 270 million tonnes per annum. Speaking at the Global Iron ore and Steel Forecast Conference, asset president Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO), Edgar Basto said, BHP Billiton is meeting the challenges of the global iron ore market through a focus on productivity and a "relentless pursuit of the basics" in its WAIO operations.

He noted that following a decade of strong growth driven by fixed assets investments, the Chinese economy is transitioning to a more consumer and services based model, with future growth likely to be inherently less steel intensive.

He reiterated that the mining industry would need to continue to meet the challenges of a lower price environment through productivity.

The company is planning a range of measures such as the optimisation of its pit-to-port scheduling strategy and alignment of maintenance shutdowns across its mines, port and track. It expects major reduction in costs across its operations.

"Our productivity drive has supported an EBITDA margin of over 50 per cent at WAIO despite the iron ore price halving since 2012," Basto said.