BHP slows expansion as iron ore prices fall

File picture showing iron ore being stockpiled for export at Port Hedland in Western Australia. The world’s No. 3 producer BHP Billiton will delay a port project that would have boosted output by 20 million tonnes. – AFP

SYDNEY: BHP Billiton is slowing down its expansion plans in iron ore, the first big miner to pull back as a global supply glut sends ore prices tumbling.

The world No. 3 producer said yesterday it would delay an Australian port project that would have boosted output by 20 million tonnes, taking total output to 290 million tonnes a year, by mid-2017.