The BHP Billiton way
- Serge Nitiema
Project Leader – Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - The difficult circumstances and environments often faced by exploration teams in Africa have been no match for Serge’s ‘can do’ attitude. Originally from Burkina Faso, Serge has led the discovery of a number of strategic mineral deposits for BHP Billiton and his teams achieve consistently strong HSEC performance.
When it comes to applying the best possible solutions to common problems and gaining the economies of scale so essential to a Company as large as ours, sharing knowledge, expertise and ideas across our operations is vital. With more than 100 operations and offices spanning 25 countries around the globe, that requires good communication, shared values and common goals.
At BHP Billiton, we have developed a series of best practice processes that govern the way we work at all of our operations and offices worldwide, be it a copper mine in Chile, an aluminium smelter in southern Africa or a metropolitan office in Australia. These processes extend to policies such as our Zero Harm and Business Excellence policies, as well as to the processes we employ when undertaking investment approvals, the way we manage our people and how we work with our customers.
Knowledge-sharing networks help to identify and disseminate successful practices across every part of the Company. This culture of information-sharing ensures that all parts of the Company can benefit from the lessons learned and experience gained by our vast network of colleagues around the globe.
Forward thinking
The 500 kilometre Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road is the essential lifeline of the diamond industry in Arctic Canada. It carries the highest volume of traffic and freight of any ice road in the world, but provides only a 10-week window each winter for mines operating in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Nunavut diamond fields to transport as much freight as possible. In 2006, unusually poor ice conditions meant that the road was late opening and then shut down early, significantly impacting many of the region’s mines.
But our EKATI supply team had planned ahead. EKATI prepared for a shorter duration winter road by expediting supplies and equipment to Yellowknife in advance of the road opening, so these materials were ready to haul as light loads as soon as the road was available. Thanks to their understanding of local conditions and forward thinking, all critical supplies were received and adverse business impacts were successfully mitigated when the premature closure of the road occurred.
Innovative solutions
Cabrillo Port is our innovative proposal to meeting California’s growing energy needs. It will be a floating regasification and storage unit positioned at a distant offshore location, which will receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) from specially designed tankers and then convert the LNG into natural gas for sale through the existing onshore natural gas system. Cabrillo Port is a safe, secure and environmentally benign solution capable of meeting more than 10 per cent of California’s current daily natural gas need.
Advancing technology
The Orion Operations group was formed during the year to manage the deployment of BHP Billiton’s exclusive exploration technologies – FALCON™, GEOFERRET™ and SOLIDEARTH™. Orion Operations is involved in projects in both established areas and new areas in emerging countries where its technologies are used to gain a competitive advantage.
Our FALCON™ technology was key to our ability to negotiate joint ventures to explore for copper and coal in Mongolia and we concluded agreements with three companies that hold licences in the South Gobi region. One of our FALCON™ systems successfully completed over 60,000 km of survey flying over winter in the Gobi Desert. These surveys have greatly increased the speed at which BHP Billiton can explore this difficult terrain.
Continuous improvement
From the beginning of its operations, Minera Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, has not stopped growing. After the successful completion of seven major expansion projects, Escondida, operated by BHP Billiton and located in Chile’s Atacama Desert, has gone from producing 320,000 tonnes per year to 1.3 million tonnes per year. Behind this growth is a decision taken during the first months of operation 15 years ago – to continuously add value through superior performance in safety, production and unit costs, ensuring its place for many more years as the world’s largest single copper producer. The application of continuous improvement programs, business risk management and control, and business cost controls have been crucial to our success.