indonesian island formerly known as billiton see belitung . bhp billiton limited & plc type public traded as lse blt nyse bhp nyse bbl asx bhp jse bil industry metals and mining founded broken hill proprietary company limited bhp 1885 ; billiton plc 1860 ; merger of bhp & billiton 2001 creation of a dlc headquarters melbourne australia bhp billiton group & bhp billiton limited london united kingdom bhp billiton plc 1 area served worldwide key people andrew mackenzie ceo jacques nasser chairman products iron ore coal petroleum copper natural gas nickel & uranium revenue a 61.2 billion 2015 2 operating income us 8.67 billion 2015 2 profit us 1.91 billion 2015 2 total assets us 124.6 billion 2015 2 total equity us 64.76 billion 2015 2 number of employees 29 670 2015 3 website www.bhpbilliton.com bhp billiton is an anglo australian multinational mining metals and petroleum company headquartered in melbourne australia . it is the world s largest mining company measured by 2015 market values and australia s fourth largest company by revenue formerly the largest . bhp billiton was created in 2001 through the merger of the australian broken hill proprietary company limited bhp and the anglo dutch billiton plc. 4 the result is a dual listed company . the australia registered bhp billiton limited which has equal financial share in the company has a primary listing on the australian securities exchange and is one of the largest companies in australia measured by market capitalisation . the uk registered bhp billiton plc has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . bhp billiton global headquarters & australian registered corporate office is located at 171 collins st melbourne cbd australia . contents 1 history 1.1 billiton 1.2 broken hill proprietary company 1.3 2001 to 2011 1.4 2011 to present 2 corporate affairs 2.1 senior management 3 operations 3.1 current 3.1.1 mines and facilities 3.2 former 4 corporate social responsibility 5 environmental responsibility 6 accidents 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit billiton edit billiton was a mining company whose origins stretch back to 29 september 1860 when the articles of association were approved by a meeting of shareholders in the groot keizerhof hotel in the hague the netherlands . 5 two months later the company acquired the mineral rights to the tin rich billiton belitung and bangka islands in the netherlands indies archipelago off the eastern coast of sumatra . 5 billiton s initial business forays included tin and lead smelting in the netherlands followed in the 1940s by bauxite mining in indonesia and suriname . in 1970 shell acquired billiton accelerated this growth . 5 the tin and lead smelter in arnhem the netherlands was shut down in the 1990s . billiton owned a tin smelting and refining plant in phuket thailand called thaisarco shorted from thailand smelting and refining company limited which still exists today . 6 in 1994 south africa s gencor ltd. acquired the mining division of billiton excluding the downstream metal division . 7 billiton was divested from gencor in 1997 . 8 in 1997 billiton plc became a constituent of the ftse 100 index . 5 the former logo of billiton throughout the 1990s and beyond billiton plc experienced considerable growth . its portfolio included aluminium smelters in south africa and mozambique nickel operations in australia and colombia base metals mines in south america canada and south africa coal mines in australia colombia and south africa as well as interests in operations in brazil suriname australia aluminium and south africa titanium minerals and steel and ferroalloys . in 2001 billiton plc merged with the broken hill proprietary company limited bhp to form bhp billiton . 4 in august 2016 the company recorded its worst annual loss in history 6.4 billion dollars . 9 broken hill proprietary company edit the former logo of broken hill proprietary company the broken hill proprietary company limited bhp co. ltd. bhp also known by the nickname the big australian 10 was incorporated in 1885 operating the silver and lead mine at broken hill in western new south wales australia . 11 12 the broken hill group floated on 10 august 1885 . 13 the first consignment of broken hill ore 48 tons 5 cwt 3grs was smelted at the intercolonial smelting and refining company s works at spotswood melbourne . 13 the resulting 35 605 ounces of silver raised a lot of interest when exhibited at the city of melbourne bank in collins st. some sceptics asserted the promoters were merely using silver from somewhere else to ramp up the shares ... another shareholder the dominating w.r. wilson had had to lend william jamieson general manager a new suit so he could take the first prospectus printed at silverton near broken hill on 20 june 1885 to adelaide to start the float process . 13 the geographic broken hill for which the town was named was discovered and named by charles sturt and created much interest among prospectors but nothing of note was discovered until charles rasp boundary rider for the encompassing mount gipps station pegged out a 40 acre claim with contractors david james and james poole then with half a dozen backers the syndicate of seven including station manager george mcculloch a young cousin of victorian premier sir james mcculloch 14 formed the broken hill company to stake out the whole hill . in the ensuing months of fruitless search and with costs mounting several of the original seven parted with their shares and at the eve of the company s great success there were nine shareholders including rasp mcculloch william jamieson who bought up shares from several of the founders philip charley david james james poole bowes kelly and w. r. wilson . 15 john darling jr. became a director of the company in 1892 and was chairman of directors from 1907 to 1914 . 16 in 1915 the company ventured into steel manufacturing with its operations based primarily in newcastle new south wales . the decision to move from mining ore at broken hill to open a steelworks at newcastle was due to the technical limitations in recovering value from mining the lower lying sulphide ores . 17 the discovery of iron knob and iron monarch near the western shore of the spencer gulf in south australia combined with the development by the bhp metallurgist a. d. carmichael of a technique for separating zinc sulphides from the accompanying earth and rock led bhp to implement the startlingly simple and cheap process for liberating vast amounts of valuable metals out of sulphide ores including huge heaps of tailings and slimes up to 40 ft 12 m high . 18 the company began petroleum exploration in the 1960s with discoveries in bass strait an activity which became an increasing focus . 19 bhp began to diversify offshore in a variety of projects . one project was the ok tedi copper mine in papua new guinea where the company was successfully sued by the indigenous inhabitants because of the environmental degradation caused by the mine operations . 20 bhp had better success with the giant escondida copper mine in chile 57.5 percent owned and the ekati diamond mine in northern canada . 21 which it divested in 2013 to dominion diamond corporation formerly harry winston diamond corporation . 22 the inefficiencies of what was by global standards a small steel operation in newcastle finally caught up with the company and the newcastle operations were closed in 1999 . 23 the long products side of the steel business was spun off to form onesteel in 2000 . 24 2001 to 2011 edit diesel locomotives in bhp billiton iron ore bubble livery at the company s nelson point yard port hedland western australia . in 2001 bhp merged with the billiton mining company to form bhp billiton . in 2002 the flat products steel business was spun off to form bhp steel . in 2003 bhp steel changed its name to bluescope steel . 25 in march 2005 bhp billiton announced a us 7.3 billion agreed bid for another mining company wmc resources owners of the olympic dam copper gold and uranium mine in south australia nickel operations in western australia and queensland and a fertiliser plant also in queensland . the takeover achieved 90 percent acceptance on 17 june 2005 and 100 percent ownership was announced on 2 august 2005 achieved through compulsory acquisition of the last 10 percent of the shares . 26 on 8 november 2007 bhp billiton announced it was seeking to purchase rival mining group rio tinto group in an all share deal . the initial offer of 3.4 shares of bhp billiton stock for each share of rio tinto was rejected by the board of rio tinto for significantly undervaluing the company . it was unknown at the time whether bhp billiton would attempt to purchase rio tinto through some form of hostile takeover ; 27 however ceo marius kloppers met with many of rio s shareholders following the announcement and reiterated that the offer for rio was compelling and that bhp billiton is very patient . 28 a formal hostile bid of 3.4 bhp billiton shares for each rio tinto share was announced on 6 february 2008 . 29 the bid was withdrawn on 25 november 2008 due to a global recession . 30 on 14 may 2008 bhp billiton shares rose to a record high of a 48.90 after speculation that chinese mining firm chinalco was considering purchasing a large stake . bhp billiton representatives had no comment . 31 on 25 november 2008 billiton announced that it would drop its a 66 billion takeover of rival rio tinto group saying that the risks to shareholder value would increase to an unacceptable level due to the global financial crisis . 32 on 21 january 2009 the company announced that in response to the global financial crisis the bhp billiton ravensthorpe nickel project in western australia would cease operations with a resultant discontinuation of shipments of ore from ravensthorpe to the yabulu nickel plant in queensland australia . 33 subsequently the yabulu refinery was sold to queensland billionaire mr clive palmer . additionally the pinto valley mine in the united states was closed . in total 6 000 employees were laid off including those laid off with the scaling back at some other projects . 34 on 9 december 2009 bhp billiton sold its ravensthorpe nickel mine which cost a 2.4 billion to build to vancouver based first quantum minerals for us 340 million . first quantum was one of three bidders for the mine and actually produced the lowest offer . the canadian company plans to have the mine back in production in mid 2011 . ravensthorpe cost bhp us 3.6 billion in writedowns when it was shut in january 2009 after less than a year of production . 35 in january 2010 after bhp billiton bought athabasca potash for us 320m the economist reported that by 2020 bhp billiton could produce approximately 15 percent of the world demand for potash . 36 in august 2010 bhp billiton made a hostile takeover bid worth us 40 billion for the potash corporation of saskatchewan . the bid came after bhp s first bid made on 17 august was rejected as being undervalued . 37 this acquisition marked a major strategic move by bhp outside hard commodities and commenced the diversification of its business away from resources with high exposure to carbon price risk coal petroleum iron ore . the takeover bid was opposed by the government of saskatchewan under premier brad wall . on 3 november canadian industry minister tony clement announced the preliminary rejection of the deal under the investment canada act giving bhp billiton 30 days to refine their deal before a final decision was made . 38 on 14 november 2010 the company announced that it