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BHP BILLITON PLC - APPROVES WORSLEY ALUMINA DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL PROJECTS
BHP BILLITON PLC
SHARE CODE: BIL
ISIN: GB0000566504
BHP BILLITON APPROVES WORSLEY ALUMINA DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL PROJECTS
BHP Billiton today announced the approval of the US$192 million (US$165 million
BHP Billiton share) Worsley Alumina Development Capital Projects (DCP) in
Australia.
DCP is designed to take advantage of latent capacity in the plant through a
series of 28 packages of work. These include additions to the precipitation
circuit, additional bauxite residue washing and disposal facilities plus
utilities and electrical infrastructure upgrades.
The result will be an increase in alumina production of 250,000 tonnes per annum
(215,000 tonnes per annum BHP Billiton share) to a capacity of 3.5 million
tonnes per annum (3.01 million tonnes per annum BHP Billiton share).
Commissioning and completion of DCP is expected by the first quarter of calendar
year 2006 with the resulting production ramp-up to be achieved by the end of the
second quarter of calendar year 2006.
President Aluminium, Alex Vanselow said: "The project is a rapid response to
meet the strong and growing demand for alumina. The DCP offers attractive
economic returns and a solid platform for future expansions at Worsley."
Forward-looking statements
This release contains forward-looking statements about BHP Billiton"s
development and capital expenditure plans and future production. Words such as
"will," "is expected to," "is estimated to" and similar expressions are intended
to identify such forward-looking statements. The statements are based on
management"s current expectations, estimates and projections; are not guarantees
of future performance; and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other
factors, some of which are beyond BHP Billiton"s control and are difficult to
predict. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
are discussed in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Operating and
Financial Review and Prospects - General factors affecting our operating
results" included in our annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2003, which we filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date of this release. Unless legally required, BHP Billiton
undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
4 May 2004
Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internet site:
http://www.bhpbilliton.com
Australia United Kingdom
Tracey Whitehead, Investor Relations Mark Lidiard, Investor & Media Relations
Tel: +61 3 9609 4202 Tel: +44 20 7802 4156
Mobile: +61 419 404 978 email: Mark.Lidiard@bhpbilliton.com
email:
Tracey.Whitehead@bhpbilliton.com
Tania Price, Media Relations Ariane Gentil, Media Relations
Tel: +61 3 9609 3815 Tel: +44 20 7802 4177
Mobile: +61 419 152 780 email: Ariane.Gentil@bhpbilliton.com
email: Tania.Price@bhpbilliton.com
United States South Africa
Francis McAllister, Investor Michael Campbell, Investor & Media
Relations Relations
Tel: +1 713 961 8625 Tel: +27 11 376 3360
Mobile: +1 713 480 3699 Mobile: +27 82 458 2587
email: email: Michael.J.Campbell@bhpbilliton.com
Francis.R.McAllister@bhpbilliton.com
Date: 04/05/2004 09:39:05 AM Produced by the JSE SENS Department |
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