Mining giant BHP's first-half profit soars 83 percent

Global mining giant BHP Billiton said Tuesday first-half net profit soared 83 percent to US$8.1 billion on the back of strong production across its iron ore, coal and petroleum businesses. The result for the six months to December 31 was above expectations and compared to US$4.2 billion in the previous corresponding period, with revenues climbing 5.9 percent to US$33.95 billion. Underlying earnings -- which exclude one-off writedowns -- rose 31 percent to a higher than forecast $US7.8 billion, with the world's biggest miner declaring an interim dividend of 59 cents a share, up 3.5 percent from a year ago. "Strong operating performance across BHP Billiton's diversified portfolio in the December 2013 half year delivered a 10 percent increase in production, with records achieved across three commodities and 10 operations," the company said. Iron ore production from Western Australia achieved record production of 108 million tonnes in the half year, benefiting from the early delivery of first production from its Jimblebar mine. BHP's Queensland coal operations also also achieved record output while petroleum liquids production increased nine percent to 50 million barrels of oil equivalent. Copper production also jumped six percent to 843,000 tonnes. The Anglo-Australian miner said the global economy was expected to strengthen over the rest of the 2014 financial year, which would provide continued support for commodities demand, "albeit at more moderate rates of growth". "In the longer term, the fundamentals of wealth creation and urbanisation should benefit general commodities demand, although the transition to consumption-led growth in the emerging economies should provide particular support for industrial metals, energy and fertilisers," BHP added.