Australian miner BHP Billiton announced on Friday, December 12 that the company has shipped its one billionth metric ton of iron ore to China.
"China is of immense importance to BHP Billiton and to Australia. It took nearly 30 years for BHP Billiton to ship 100 million mt of iron ore to China and then only 12 more years to reach the one billion mt milestone," said BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie.
With China accounting for nearly 50 percent of the world's total steel production, BHP Iron Ore president Jimmy Wilson recognized China's contribution to the development of the Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. "Chinese demand growth has supported a trebling of BHP Billiton's iron ore production over the last two decades," he said.
"Over the past decade, we have invested US$25 billion in our Western Australian mines and rail and port infrastructure to deliver the high-quality iron ore needed by our steelmaking customers in China," Mr. Wilson added.