News Room - Steel Industry

Posted on 17 Aug 2009

BHP wants transparent iron ore pricing

Mining giant BHP Billiton called yesterday for a more transparent system of pricing iron ore to replace the current system of negotiation.

 

The comments follow the detention in China last month of four employees of rival Rio Tinto, including Australian citizen Stern Hu. They have been accused of illegally obtaining commercial secrets and bribery.

 

Although he would not comment directly on Hu’s case, BHP Billiton chief financial officer Alex Vanselow told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that a market mechanism would be to everyone’s benefit.

 

“Nobody is asking how we are negotiating a copper price into China because there is a pricing mechanism,” he said. “That’s global and it’s accepted worldwide that you sell at that price, and the same thing should happen with iron ore.”