Global mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd yesterday warned that it could scale back production at unprofitable operations as commodity prices softened because of economic uncertainty.
However, BHP chief Marius Kloppers said the firm’s flagship iron ore business was in good health despite weakening Chinese demand and insisted it would take a “fairly big event” to knock expansion plans worth A$27 billion (US$29 billion) off course.
“I think a more immediate problem is that ... given some of those price movements that you’ve seen, not all of our operations are making profit to the same extent at the moment,” Kloppers told ABC television. “That’s probably more the avenue that you’re going to see us act in, where an existing operation doesn’t make profit, we’re probably likely to say ‘look this is not making profit, let’s curtail production.’”
BHP posted a 5.5 percent fall in first half profits last week to US$9.4 billion, largely because of volatility in commodity prices, and Kloppers said iron ore had “clearly moderated a little bit” as China cooled.
However, Kloppers said freight costs from Australia’s resource-rich west coast to China were “as low as they’ve ever been” and iron ore shipments would be very profitable “even if that price comes back a little bit more.”
“We’re going to make very good returns on those projects,” the mining chief said.
Asked about the blockbuster merger of commodities titan Glencore International PLC and miner Xstrata PLC to create a huge US$90 billion group, Kloppers said the long-term trend was “always towards consolidation,” particularly in mining.
He would not be drawn on whether BHP was eyeing miner Anglo American PLC or had any other major plays in the pipeline.
“We never speculate,” Kloppers said, describing merger activity as an “opportunistic thing.”
“I have absolutely no doubt that over time we will do more transactions, but we’re pretty busy at the moment and it’s difficult for me to speculate on any individual transaction,” he said.
BHP bought shale gas giant Petrohawk Energy Corp for US$15.1 billion last year in a bid to diversify its business, following the failure of a US$39 billion bid for Canadian fertilizer-maker Potash Corp in late 2010.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS