BHP Billiton today announced that it had loaded the first 60,000 tonnes of MAC™ marra mamba iron ore aboard the Hanjin Sydney, for trial by Asian steelmakers.

The shipment, to go to Korean steelmaker POSCO, is the first of 740,000 tonnes to be shipped to BHP Billiton Iron Ore's customers over the next six months - preceding full scale development of Area C later this year.

In April, BHP Billiton announced an investment of over $US560 million (almost $A1 billion) to develop Area C ($US213m) and expand its port and railing facility at Port Hedland ($US351), in the Pilbara region of north Western Australia.

The Area C development will involve construction of a new mine capable of producing up to 15 million tonnes per annum. The Port and Capacity Expansion (PACE) will increase BHP Billiton's export capacity from 67mtpa to 81mtpa by 2004 and provide the foundations for expansion to over 90mtpa by 2011, an increase of more than 40 per cent.

BHP Billiton Iron Ore's development of Mining Area C signals a new era of growth in its Western Australian iron ore operations and is the first step in unlocking the Company’s significant Marra Mamba resources.