NEWS RELEASE
Date:  1 November 2001
BHP Billiton today announced that it had successfully completed its
acquisition of Dia Met Minerals Ltd (Dia Met) following the purchase of all
outstanding Class A subordinate voting shares (Class A shares) and Class B
multiple voting shares (Class B shares), for C$21.00 per share.  The
acquisition of outstanding shares was completed at the same price as BHP
Billiton's previous offers and values Dia Met's equity at C$648 million.
At the expiry of the offers on 3 July 2001, BHP Billiton had received
acceptances for 98.6 per cent of the Class A shares and 88.7 per cent of the
Class B shares.  All conditions of the offers, including a minimum
acceptance of 75 per cent of both classes of shares, were met at that time.
BHP Billiton subsequently exercised its statutory right to compulsorily
acquire the remaining Class A shares and completed the purchase of these
shares on 20 September 2001.  In addition, BHP Billiton proposed the
amalgamation of Dia Met with the acquiring entity, Tortilla Acquisition Inc.
The amalgamation was approved by an order of the British Columbia Supreme
Court, with an effective date of 30 October 2001.  As a result of the
amalgamation, the former holders of Class B shares will receive a cash
payment of C$21 per share.
BHP Billion Minerals Chief Development Officer Marcus Randolph said: "The
EKATIT Diamond Mine continues to be a great success for BHP Billiton and the
acquisition of Dia Met ensures we will have ongoing access to the rough
diamonds to strengthen our marketing activities through the EKATI and Aurias
brands.  We are currently witnessing strong demand for these branded
products."
Dia Met is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company with a
primary focus on diamonds.  The company's principal asset is a 29 per cent
joint venture interest in the Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada's first commercial
diamond mine.  BHP Billiton is the operator of the Ekati Diamond Mine and
the acquisition of Dia Met increases its interest in the joint venture from
51 per cent to 80 per cent.  Mr Charles Fipke and Mr Stewart Blusson own 10
per cent of the joint venture respectively.
* * * *
Further information can be found on our Internet site:
http://www.bhpbilliton.com
Australia                              United Kingdom
Dr. Robert Porter, Investor Relations  Ariane Gentil, Manager
Tel: + 61 3 9609 3540                  Communications
Mobile: +61 419 587 456                Tel: +44 20 7747 3977
email: Robert.Porter@bhpbilliton.com   Mobile: + 44 7881 518 715
                                       email: Ariane.Gentil@bhpbilliton.com
Mandy Frostick, Media Relations
Tel: +61 3 9609 4157
Mobile: +61 419 546 245
email:
Mandy.J.Frostick@bhpbilliton.com
South Africa                           United States
Michael Campbell, Investor & Media     Francis McAllister, Investor
Relations                              Relations
Tel: +27 11 376 3360Mobile: +27 82 458 Tel: +1 713 961 8625 Mobile: +1 713
2587                                   480 3699
email:                                 email:
Michael.J.Campbell@bhpbilliton.com     Francis.R.McAllister@bhpbilliton.com