News Articles for BHP

The Australian share market has closed lower, hurt by falls in financial and resource giants, including the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have labelled the reinstalled WA Nationals leader's plan to slug them with higher taxes "ill-conceived" and "damaging".

The Australian share market has closed slightly higher, with the big banks holding up the bourse in light trading following a weak lead from US markets

Brendon Grylls has snatched back leadership of the WA Nationals and will press the Barnett government to support his plan to slug BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto with a $5 per tonne mining tax.

The WA Liberals can govern without the support of the Nationals, who are still deciding who will lead their party, Premier Colin Barnett says.

A move flagged by National Party leadership challenger Brendon Grylls to effectively double the rate of the royalty paid by the state's two biggest iron ore miners would make Western Australia one of the most punitive jurisdictions for taxes on production of the commodity.

ANALYSIS: Politics and business never mix well, which is something the state government is about to discover with news that former Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls is eyeing a return to his party's top job.

A short term domestic gas contract between Woodside Petroleum and electricity generator Synergy is the first such deal since the North West Shelf Venture partners moved towards separate marketing of their production.

The environmental watchdog has recommended rejection of a new uranium mine in the Goldfields after the proposal failed to meet one of nine strict factors.

Iron ore shipments contributed more than $45 billion to the Western Australian economy in the 12 months to June, a figure well down on last year, according to BNiQ, despite a pick-up in volumes by the state's major producers.

The fatal Samarco mine disaster in Brazil will dent BHP Billiton's bottom line by up to $US1.4 billion ($A1.9 billion) for the 2015-16 financial year.

Perth-based IT firm Velrada has announced a $10 million contract to support the expanding Pilbara operations of global facilities management company Sodexo.

Pilbara accommodation businesses run by one-time trucking boss Craig Mitchell and the Collinson family are set to be the winners from BHP Billiton's surprise decision to close Kurra Village in Newman, which at its peak houses up to 1,600 fly-in, fly-out workers

A fuel supply system at Rio Tinto's Cape Lambert port and work on a loading jetty at Ichthys's Darwin LNG facilities are among $140 million of contracts recently won by Monadelphous.

BHP Billiton has fallen slightly short of its revised iron ore production target for the 2016 financial year as it struggles to make up for the suspension of operations at its Samarco joint venture in Brazil and the impact of bad weather in Western Australia.

Brazilian federal prosecutors say they have opened an investigation into alleged environmental crimes by Roberto Carvalho, chief executive of BHP Billiton co-owned company Samarco Minerao SA, over a deadly damburst last year.

A former Choice Industrial Training employee has been fined nearly $2,300 after being found guilty of falsely assessing candidates for high-risk work licences.

A ramp-up of iron ore exports has lifted annual throughput at Port Hedland to a new record of 460.4 million tonnes, with the combined Pilbara Ports Authority tracking for a figure of 633.5mt per year.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mining stocks are again leading the way in shareholder returns, but this time it's not the iron ore players doing the business.

Rio Tinto's decision to shelve development plans for its $US20 billion Simandou iron ore project in Guinea could risk the project falling into the hands of a Chinese competitor.

Local contractor Pindan has won the tender for construction of the new $70.7 million marine control tower in Port Hedland, which is one of four major projects worth nearly $800 million at the port.

SPECIAL REPORT: Indigenous contractors are revising their business plans and moving into new sectors as the mining construction boom has waned.

Two new directors have been appointed to Perth Markets, with Frank Romano replacing his former colleague Nick Tana on the board.

BHP Billiton will appeal against the decision by a Brazilian court to reinstate a $8.4 billion public civil claim over last year's deadly Samarco mine disaster.

Kwinana's future as an important centre of value-added mineral processing is being threatened by a potential double closure of major projects – the BHP Billiton-run nickel refinery and the Alcoa of Australia-operated alumina refinery.

BHP Billiton will focus on copper and oil as it boosts exploration spending in the coming financial year despite cutting its total capital expenditure.

The Australian dollar gold price hit an all-time record of $1,826 an ounce today after Britain elected to leave the European Union, with shares in local gold miners rallying strongly even though the broader stock market tumbled more than 3 per cent.

Rio Tinto has announced a new executive team in a major reorganisation that will include iron ore boss and one-time CEO hopeful, Andrew Harding, leaving the mining giant.

BHP Billiton is looking for $800 million in new savings from its coal operations as the global miner maintains an optimistic outlook for the coal business.

As WA's last mega mining project swings into operations mode, there's more pain ahead for employment and investment numbers.

The internet's disruptive role is different when it comes to heavy industry.

Tipping future residential property prices is tricky, but in Western Australia there is a potential technique that is so obvious it's a surprise no-one has used it before – linking property to the state's biggest industry, resources.

It's the end of the beginning for what had been Western Australia's only remaining major iron ore project under construction, Citic Pacific's Sino Iron, according to chief executive Chen Zeng, as the final two of six magnetite ore processing lines enter production.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia has partnered with some of the state's biggest resources players to launch a pilot training framework to improve safety in the workplace.

BHP Billiton shares have fallen after Brazilian police completed their criminal investigation into last year's deadly dam burst at a mine co-owned by the Australian giant.

BHP Billiton has agreed to sell its majority stake in the IndoMet coal project in Indonesia to its local joint venture partner, Adaro Energy.

The clock is ticking for the leaders of some of WA's biggest businesses, beset by low growth and a sluggish outlook.

Chevron Australia has become the latest resources giant to put its name on a public attraction, with the state government announcing the company will fund a parkland within the new Perth Stadium precinct.

ANALYSIS: WA's resources-focused business community is eagerly awaiting the next round of figures for iron ore production costs.

Small and medium-sized businesses are settling their invoices about 12 faster than large corporations on average, a report by Dun & Bradstreet has found.