Base Metals
BHP Billiton is one of the world's top producers of copper, silver, lead and uranium, and a leading producer of zinc. We provide base metal concentrates to custom smelters and copper cathodes to rod and brass mills and casting plants and uranium oxide to power utilities. We aim to become the pre-eminent supplier in base metals through capacity expansions, reliable supply and innovative solutions.
We have an excellent portfolio of large, low-cost mining operations with substantial growth opportunities. We have a number of expansion opportunities — both greenfield (new sites) and brownfield (developments on existing sites) — which are sufficient to allow us to expand copper production significantly through various projects.
Beyond conventional mine development, we are also rigorously pursuing advanced bioleaching technology, which has the potential to achieve significant reductions in the cost of producing base metals.
Products
We have five primary products:
- Copper concentrates
- Copper cathodes
- Lead concentrates
- Zinc concentrates
- Uranium oxide
We also produce major quantities of silver and significant amounts of gold within the base metals concentrates as well as gold and silver bullion at our Olympic Dam operation. Our Cannington mine in Australia is one of the largest and lowest cost producers of silver in the world.
Operations
We currently have six primary operations (brackets indicate percentage of ownership):
- Antamina, Peru (33.75 per cent) — copper and zinc concentrates
- Cannington, Australia (100 per cent) — lead and zinc concentrates with high silver content
- Cerro Colorado, Chile (100 per cent) — copper cathodes
- Escondida, Chile (57.5 per cent) — copper concentrates and cathodes
- Olympic Dam, Australia (100 per cent) — copper cathodes, uranium oxide, gold and silver bullion. Also see Olympic Dam Expansion Project
- Spence, Chile (100 per cent) — copper cathodes
Marketing
For information about our Base Metals marketing activities, see Base Metals in Customer Centre.
