Copper Briefing and Site Tour - Building Momentum in Copper BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in England and Wales Share code: BIL ISIN: GB0000566504 Issued by: BHP Billiton Plc Date: 1 December 2015 To: London Stock Exchange JSE Limited For Release: Immediately Contact: Elizabeth Hobley +44 207 802 4054 BHP Billiton Plc – Copper Briefing and Site Tour UK Listing Authority Submissions BHP Billiton President, Copper, Danny Malchuk, will host a Copper briefing and site tour on Tuesday, 1 December 2015. The following document has today been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at www.hemscott.com/nsm.do: • Copper Briefing and Site Tour Presentation The document may also be accessed via BHP Billiton’s website - www.bhpbilliton.com BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: Neathouse Place London SW1V 1LH United Kingdom A member of the BHP Billiton Group which is headquartered in Australia NEWS RELEASE Release Time IMMEDIATE Date 1 December 2015 Number 30/15 BUILDING MOMENTUM IN COPPER BHP Billiton President Copper, Daniel Malchuk, today announced plans to lower copper unit costs to US$1.08 per pound in the 2017 financial year, supporting strong cash margins even at today’s prices. Over this period, the release of latent capacity across the portfolio will also help annual Group copper production grow to approximately 1.7 Mt at very low cost. This strong recovery will be supported by our differentiated water and power solutions in Chile which will provide us with a significant competitive advantage. Mr Malchuk reinforced BHP Billiton’s commitment to sustainability saying, “We value safe, sustainable operations above all else. We are enhancing verification for critical controls across all our assets and have brought forward our regular review of our tailings facilities. Referring to the copper market, he said while near-term oversupply is weighing on current prices, attractive long-term fundamentals continue to support our positive outlook. “We see a number of factors creating the conditions for a significant supply deficit by the end of the decade. Grade decline, falling investment across the sector, the lack of greenfield projects and challenges accessing sustainable power and water are all likely to constrain industry supply. Meanwhile we expect robust demand from China and non-OECD countries to add to the deficit. Mr Malchuk said BHP Billiton’s Copper portfolio comprised of large, long life assets competitively positioned on the cost curve. “We have the industry’s largest copper resource and our business will gain momentum over the next two years with lower costs and higher production across our major assets as we safely improve productivity. “At Escondida, no major investment is required to sustain an average 1.2 million tonnes per annum of production capacity for the decade from the 2016 financial year, and the asset is expected to generate strong free cash flow through the cycle. “Olympic Dam unit costs are expected to fall 48 per cent1 by the end of the 2017 financial year to US$1.00 per pound, repositioning the asset at the low end of the cost curve. Over the same period, Spence unit costs are expected to fall 10 per cent to 87 US cents per pound. Low cost debottlenecking projects will release latent capacity, supporting sustainable production of approximately 200 ktpa at both Olympic Dam and Spence from the 2016 financial year. “We are also pursuing further growth opportunities which offer attractive returns. The Spence Growth Option has advanced to the feasibility stage with the potential for first production in the 2020 financial year. And we continue to create staged optionality for substantial long-term growth at Olympic Dam. These opportunities will enable us to bring on production at a time that coincides with an expected price recovery.” Further information on BHP Billiton can be found at: www.bhpbilliton.com. Media Relations Investor Relations Australia Australia Emily Perry Tara Dines Tel: +61 3 9609 2800 Mobile: +61 477 325 803 Tel: +61 3 9609 2222 Mobile: +61 499 249 005 email: Emily.Perry@bhpbilliton.com email: Tara.Dines@bhpbilliton.com Paul Hitchins Andrew Gunn Tel: + 61 3 9609 2592 Mobile: + 61 419 315 001 Tel: +61 3 9609 3575 Mobile: +61 402 087 354 email: Paul.Hitchins@bhpbilliton.com email: Andrew.Gunn@bhpbilliton.com Eleanor Nichols United Kingdom and South Africa Tel: +61 3 9609 2360 Mobile: +61 407 064 748 email: Eleanor.Nichols@bhpbilliton.com Jonathan Price Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +44 7990 527 726 United Kingdom and Americas email: Jonathan.H.Price@bhpbilliton.com Ruban Yogarajah Dean Simon Tel: +44 20 7802 4033 Mobile: +44 7827 082 022 Tel: +44 20 7802 7461 Mobile: +44 7717 511 193 email: Ruban.Yogarajah@bhpbilliton.com email: Dean.Simon@bhpbilliton.com Jennifer White Americas Tel: +44 20 7802 7462 Mobile: +44 7827 253 764 email: Jennifer.White@bhpbilliton.com James Agar Tel: +1 212 310 1421 Mobile: +1 347 882 3011 email: James.Agar@bhpbilliton.com Joseph Suarez Tel: +1 212 310 1422 Mobile: +1 646 400 3803 email: Joseph.Suarez@bhpbilliton.com BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in Australia Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: Level 16, 171 Collins Street Registered Office: Neathouse Place Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia London SW1V 1LH United Kingdom Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015 Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111 Members of the BHP Billiton Group which is headquartered in Australia Follow us on social media Sponsor: Merrill Lynch South Africa Proprietary Limited Date: 01/12/2015 01:00:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. 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