BHP cuts back on new mines

Article Excerpt

BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $66 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $178.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bhpbilliton.com) plans to spend $18 billion developing new mines in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, down 18.2% from $22 billion in fiscal 2013. That’s because slowing economic growth in China has hurt prices for commodities like iron ore, copper and coal. This spending should continue to fall in future years, because many of the projects that BHP is developing will start up in 2015. BHP Billiton is a buy. buy…