The world’s biggest mining group, BHP Billiton, said on Wednesday that it had 33 projects in its pipeline worth $20,9-billion, or some R154-billion, and that it could potentially increase this to about $50-billion, around R370-billion.

Speaking in a media video conference after a presentation of the firm's results for the year ended June 30, exiting CEO Chip Goodyear did not give a timeframe over which the investment could be made.

The $50-billion referred to BHP Billiton’s “next generation of projects”, which went beyond those in execution and feasibility.

“Not all of it will happen and other things will come to pass, but it really represents an outstanding set of future investment opportunities, and Marius Kloppers and his team going forward will certainly look to developing those things,” Goodyear said.

South Africa-born Kloppers will replace Goodyear as CEO from October.

Commodities outlook remains positive

Goodyear, in his twenty-third and last results presentation for the group, said that although growth in the US had shown moderation over the past year or so, demand from China and India had more than made up for this.

“The fundamentals are very much intact,” he added.

“While the US was a key driver 10 or 20 years ago, today the world has changed.”

He added that BHP Billiton expected 2008 to be a strong year of volume growth, particularly in its iron-ore, petroleum and stainless steel materials businesses.

Indian demand playing an increasingly important role

Kloppers said that BHP Billiton had seen its sales to India increase “dramatically” over the last two years.

“It is up to about 4% of our sales, which is about where China used to be six or seven years ago,” he said. “We are confident that it’s going to continue to grow.”

“The way that Goodyear always describes it, is that we have multiple billions of people entering the industrialised age, and that’s what is going to drive our product demand,” Kloppers stated.

Goodyear said that the future would continue to be exciting for BHP Billiton because of this.

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