It’s released that BHP Billiton Ltd. has recently sought the government’s approval to expand its iron ore areas in Pilbara, Australia, which BHP has operated for more than 40 years.

It’s said the company will investigate a number of developments, including bringing new iron ore bodies into operation at existing sites, meant the production will be double the current capacity to 350 Million tonnes a year by 2020, and furthering it to 450 Million tonnes annually.

This move has caused increasing comments from mining executives in recent weeks because of the recent economic gloom in Europe and the slump in commodity prices. Some experts doubt if this is a wise choice.

Mr. Marius Kloppers, CEO of BHP said it’s an opportunity to invest in iron ore production so as to meet the expected continued rise in Chinese steel demand through 2025. Later, the demand is expected to climb to the top and the industry will have greater supplies of scrap steel.

Lu Hongbo, the president of Liming, strongly support this move: “To take action before the huge demand of steel coming is really impressive.” As the global leading manufacturer and marketer of iron ore crushing solution, Liming is ready to cooperate with BHP Billiton to expand the production of steel.

As we known, to turn iron ores into steel, the first step is the crushing of iron ores. Liming provides whole set of iron ore crushing plant with the process as follows: ZSW → PE → →PY →YK .

Recently, BHP Billiton is lodging documents for environmental approval to open a wide window for its iron ore boost business in Australia. It has also laid claim to thousands of kilometers of land around its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia State. To expand the production of iron ore seems a key point for BHP Billiton right now.

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