BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP) has completed the sale of its diamonds business on the same day reports have emerged the miner has made a substantial copper discovery.
BHP's diamond assets have been offloaded to Dominion Diamond Corporation for $US553 million.
The sale marks BHP’s exit from the diamond industry and is in line with the company’s strategy on focusing on large, long-life, low-cost, expandable, upstream assets.
Separately, sources have told News Corporation BHP has uncovered broad intersections of copper mineralisation at relatively high grades in the remote West Australian outback. The report says the discovery could open up the potential of the West Mysgrave region.
BHP Billiton’s net profit dropped 58 per cent to $4 billion in the first half of the 2013 financial year.
