BHP Billiton Limited is an international resources company. The Company's principal business lines are mineral exploration and production including coal iron ore gold titanium ferroalloys nickel and copper concentrate as well as petroleum exploration production and refining. Dually-listed company with BLT LN.

BHP Billiton recently released its third-quarter production report, failing to provide a spark to the world’s biggest miner.

The ‘Big Australian’ has become quite a lot smaller in 2013 on the back of weak commodity prices and renewed concerns about Chinese growth. Incidentally, BHP has slipped back to being the third biggest stock in Australia, being overtaken by both CBA and Westpac in recent weeks, after spending years at the top.

During the most recent quarter, iron ore production rose 6% to 40.2 million tonnes. However, the result was 5% lower compared to the prior quarter on the back of bad weather. Metallurgical coal output increased to 8.9 million tonnes, a 22% improvement compared to 3Q12.

BHP reaffirmed that its FY13 production guidance remains unchanged at 240 mmboe whilst it said that it is on track to meet its FY13 iron ore production guidance of 183 million tonnes.

Looking ahead, the company’s new CEO has foreshadowed some belt-tightening at the major miner – a shift from the previous management’s boom-time expansion mindset.

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