BHP takes iron ore operation in-house

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, has moved to take its Western Australian iron ore mining operations in house by buying a contracting unit from Leighton Holdings for £450 million.

BHP said the purchase of the HWE Mining operations was in line with its intention to move to owner-operator mining, and would be less risky than trying to replace the highly skilled HWE employees.