BHP

BHP History

• BHP Group Limited is an Australian multinational mining and metals public company.
• Founded on July 16, 1885, in Silverton, New South Wales.
• BHP was the world's largest mining company based on market capitalization in 2017.
• BHP Billiton was formed in 2001 through the merger of BHP and Billiton.
• BHP Group is currently the largest mining company in the world.

Billiton History

• Billiton Maatschappij was founded on September 29, 1860, in The Hague, Netherlands.
• Acquired mineral rights to the Billiton and Bangka Islands in the Netherlands Indies archipelago.
• Engaged in tin and lead smelting in the Netherlands and bauxite mining in Indonesia and Suriname.
• Shell acquired Billiton in 1970.
• Billiton plc became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index in 1997.

Broken Hill Proprietary Company

• Incorporated on August 13, 1885, operating the silver and lead mine at Broken Hill, New South Wales.
• First consignment of Broken Hill ore smelted at the Intercolonial Smelting and Refining Company's works in Melbourne.
• Explored steel manufacturing in 1915, leading to the establishment of the Newcastle Steelworks.
• Discovered Iron Knob and Iron Monarch in South Australia, allowing for the extraction of valuable metals.
• BHP's Newcastle operations were closed in 1999, and the steel business was spun off to form OneSteel.

BHP Billiton Merger

• BHP merged with Billiton in 2001 to form BHP Billiton.
• Flat steel products were demerged to create BHP Steel, later renamed BlueScope.
• Acquired WMC Resources in 2005, gaining ownership of the Olympic Dam mine and other assets.
• Achieved 100% ownership of WMC Resources through compulsory acquisition.
• BHP Billiton announced a bid to purchase a rival mining group in 2007.

Recent Developments

• BHP Billiton assets were demerged and rebranded as South32 in 2015.
• BHP Billiton became BHP in a scaled-down form.
• BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton plc became BHP Group Limited and BHP Group plc in 2018.
• BHP relinquished its London Stock Exchange listing in January 2022.
• BHP is currently the largest company in Australia and the largest mining company in the world.

BHP Data Sources