BHP Billiton was expected to post a full-year headline loss of about US$6.8 billion with Australian media reporting it will be one of the biggest in the country’s post-war corporate history.

BHP's Spence copper mine, Atacama desert, Chile

Analysts said the company would be hit by weak metal prices, asset impairments and write-downs linked to the burst tailings dam at Samarco in Brazil.

The company is led by CEO Andrew Mackenzie and chaired by former Ford chief, Jac “the knife” Nasser, an epithet earned during his cost-cutting days at the US motor company in the 1990s.


Created from www.mining-journal.com