BHP Billiton: ‘Inquiry will drive away investors’

A PROPOSED Australian Senate inquiry into the economic impact of a slump in the price of iron ore could damage the country’s economy and drive Asian customers to shift investment to Brazil, BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said yesterday. Prime Minister Tony Abbott last week threw his support behind a proposal by Senator Nick Xenophon for an inquiry into the impact of the price collapse on government revenue and to consider whether action is needed to ensure healthy competition in the sector. In a heated radio interview Mackenzie hit back, blasting an inquiry as a waste of government resources and adding that he was “perplexed” by the conservative government’s decision to back it. Mackenzie denied that top producers Rio Tinto and BHP had colluded to depress prices and drive smaller producers out of the market, calling the inquiry “an amazing gift to our major competitor, Brazil”. – Reuters