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BHP's Kloppers stays bullish on commodities Posted: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 [miningmx.com] -- BHP Billiton’s view of demand for commodities being strong in the medium to longer term is borne out by its investment in growth projects, said CEO Marius Kloppers, who singled out copper as an exciting place to be. Kloppers also drew a fairly firm line under the company entering the platinum sector in South Africa, pointing out BHP Billiton is focussed on settling its $127bn bid for Rio Tinto and the safety risks of operating in underground mines. BHP Billiton maintains its time line on the Rio bid and Kloppers, apart from reiterating the value argument in favour of the deal, declined to comment much further on the transaction. Around the world, no large new copper mines have been built and mining companies have not move into fresh geographies, the head of the world’s largest resources company said. “In the medium to longer term copper could be a very exciting product to be in,” Kloppers said. The market has over-estimated the quantities of commodities coming from new projects, he said and this was not yet reflected in prices. “I think people have been way too optimistic…for years on the speed at which new projects can deliver volumes,” he said, maintaining his view that Chinese and developing world demand for commodities would remain strong. In the steel businesses in China, driven by domestic demand, there was sound offtake and the sector was strong despite a slowing in the light industrial sectors geared towards exports, he said. Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter
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