[miningmx.com] – BHP Billiton would not close down production as its rivals, including Glencore, had done because its assets were high-margin, said Bloomberg News citing the comments of the Melbourne firm’s Arnoud Balhuizen, president of marketing.
“I’m quite intrigued by all the conversation about cutting down production because I haven’t seen any production being shut-in which is making cash,” Balhuizen told Bloomberg News. “It’s just a normal, rational economic decision if you have a cash-negative operation you shut-in. But it doesn’t do anything for price,” he said.
Glencore has scaled back zinc, copper and coal operations after slowing demand from top user China sent prices to the lowest in at least five years.
“The difference between us and some of our competitors again is that we, in the current portfolio, have tier-one, big, high-margin businesses,” Balhuizen said.
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