BHP Billiton has enhanced its position as the world’s leading exporter of metallurgical coal after it approved the $4.2bn (£2.62bn) construction of the Caval Ridge coking coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin and expansion of the nearby Peak Downs mine. BHP will pick up half the tab for the development as part of its 50:50 BMA joint venture with Japan's Mitsubishi.
BHP had originally been looking to bring Caval Bridge into production this year, but the global financial crisis forced the company to re-schedule the plans. First production is now pencilled-in for 2014, and the two mines are expected to add an extra 8m tonnes to annual output, boosting BHP’s programme to increase production of metallurgical coal by 80 per cent before the end of the decade.
