Ambition has become a scarce commodity at the top end of mining.
Projects are being been delayed, expansions shelved, exploration stalled, assets sold and expenditures deferred.
Nowhere is this thrown in sharper relief than at BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, by a wide (if declining) margin.
The Melbourne-based giant released its annual report for its financial year to end June on Wednesday detailing three projects reaching first production – a $1.5 billion coal terminal expansion, and a tailings and “organic growth” project with a combined outlay of just under $3 billion at 57.5%-owned Escondida, the globe’s largest copper mine.
These achievements is a stunning climbdown from capital spending of $21.4 billion just two short years ago.
