http://www.commodityonline.com/news/...

Commodity Online:

"MUMBAI: Helped by its strong cash flow, mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd has chalked out plans to go for acquisitions. However, BHP officials refused to divulge detains about the companies which they are planning to acquire.

The move came after reports emerged Rio Tinto was in discussions with major shareholder, China’s state-backed aluminium group, Chinalco about a capital injection and asset sales in an effort to pay down some of its $57 billion of debt.

So, BHP thinks that more companies are going to have to sell assets in order to meet their short-term demands.

However, BHP said it is not bidding for Rio Tinto on technical grounds.

A cash bid for Rio Tinto was not possible given offshore regulators’ rules after the world’s largest miner was rebuffed in its $127 billion bid for Rio Tinto.

In Australia, BHP is cutting around 3,400 jobs in reaction to the global economic downturn and moved to close its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia last month.

But changes in the nickel market over the past 18 months had seen BHP trip up.

BHP, which last week booked a $386 million charge for its failed takeover bid for Rio, has joined Xstrata Plc and Rio in closing mines and cutting jobs as the global recession cuts demand. "

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...

"BHP Billiton boss Marius Kloppers issued his starkest warning yet to investors yesterday: The end of the commodities slump is nowhere in sight.

His bleak prognosis came as BHP unveiled a bigger-than-expected 57 per cent drop in profit for the first half of 2008-09, dragged down by billions of dollars in one-off costs including the closure of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia following a sharp slide in prices for the base metal."