BHP to invest A$4 billion

BHP to invest A$4 billion

PARIS (Reuter): Australian mining group Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd (BHP) plans to invest an annual A$4 billion until the year 2000, chief executive John Prescott said in an interview published in business daily La Tribune Desfosses.

BHP recently acquired U.S. copper group Magma Copper.

"Including Magma Copper our investment program will amount to A$7 billion this year. Until the year 2000, that program will reach A$4 billion per year, all divisions combined, but excluding acquisitions," John Prescott told La Tribune.

Commenting on prospects for development in Asia, Prescott predicted China might raise steel output to some 120 million tons by 2005 from an estimated 90 million tons in 1996.

Prescott also said steel output was on the rise in Taiwan and Korea and that Indonesia and Vietnam might start producing steel on a small scale within ten to twelve years.

BHP, which is already listed in Australia, New York, Frankfurt, Zurich, Singapore and Tokyo, would like to be listed in Paris but the stock lacked liquidity, he said.