Second Interim Dividend

BHP Billiton Limited
23 March 2004

BHP Billiton Limited is issuing this announcement to fulfil disclosure 
obligations arising from its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.  
The text of this release is identical to that issued by BHP Billiton Plc 
earlier.


  Date         23 March 2004
  Number       16/04

          BHP BILLITON ANNOUNCES SECOND INTERIM DIVIDEND AND ALIGNMENT
           OF DIVIDEND DECLARATION DATES WITH EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Following BHP Billiton's decision to cease quarterly reporting of financial
results, the Board has announced today its intention to align its dividend
declaration dates with its half year and full year earnings announcements. As a
result of this decision, BHP Billiton has today announced a second interim
dividend of 8.5 US cents per share.

Commenting on these decisions, Chairman Don Argus said: 'Moving our dividend
declaration dates to February and August, to coincide with our half year and
full year earnings announcements, brings us into line with normal market
practice. The second interim dividend is being paid to reflect the change in
timing of our final dividend which will now be declared in August of this year
rather than May, as has been the case in recent years. What will not change is
our focus on pursuing a progressive dividend policy.'

The second interim dividend of 8.5 US cents per share will be paid to BHP
Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc shareholders on 5 May 2004 and represents
an increase of 13.3% over the final dividend of 7.5 US cents per share, paid on
2 July 2003.

Full details of the timetable for this second interim dividend are attached to
this release.


Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internet site: http://
www.bhpbilliton.com

AUSTRALIA                               
Andrew Nairn, Investor Relations        
Tel: [phone] 
Mobile: [phone]                          
email: [e-mail]
                                       
Tania Price, Media Relations            
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email: [e-mail]      


UNITED KINGDOM
Mark Lidiard, Investor & Media Relations                                        
Tel: [phone]
email: [e-mail]

Ariane Gentil, Media Relations
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Mobile: [phone]
email: [e-mail]


UNITED STATES                                                                                       
Francis McAllister, Investor Relations                               
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Mobile: [phone]                                    
email:[e-mail]


SOUTH AFRICA
Michael Campbell, Investor & Media Relations
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Mobile: [phone]
email:[e-mail]

BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077
Registered in Australia
Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000
Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]

BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209
Registered in England and Wales
Registered Office: Neathouse Place London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom
Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]

The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia
Timetable for BHP Billiton's second interim dividend

A second interim dividend of 8.5 US cents per share will be paid to BHP Billiton
Limited and BHP Billiton Plc shareholders on 5 May 2004, an increase of 13.3%
over the final dividend of 7.5 US cents per share, paid on 2 July 2003. The BHP
Billiton Limited dividend will be fully franked for Australian taxation
purposes.

Dividends for the BHP Billiton Group are determined and declared in US dollars.
However, BHP Billiton Limited dividends are mainly paid in Australian dollars
and BHP Billiton Plc dividends are mainly paid in pounds sterling to
shareholders on the UK section of the register and South African rand to
shareholders on the South African section of the register. The rates of exchange
applicable two business days before the announcement date are used for
conversion, and are detailed below.

The timetable in respect of this dividend will be:

Currency conversion 19 March 2004

Last day to trade Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) 6 April 2004

Ex-dividend Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) 7 April 2004

Ex-dividend Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) 8 April 2004

Ex-dividend London Stock Exchange (LSE) 14 April 2004

Record 16 April 2004

American Depositary Shares (ADSs) each represent two fully paid ordinary shares
and receive dividends accordingly. The record date for BHP Billiton Limited ADSs
is 15 April 2004 and for BHP Billiton Plc ADSs is 16 April 2004.

BHP Billiton Plc shareholders registered on the South African section of the
register will not be able to dematerialise or rematerialise their shareholdings,
nor will they be able to effect transfers between the UK register and the South
African register between the dates of 7 April 2004 and 16 April 2004.

The following table details the exchange rates applicable for conversion of the
dividend payable on 5 May 2004:

Dividend 8.5 US cents                       Exchange                Dividend per
                                                                      ordinary
                                                Rate              Share in local
                                                                      currency
Australian cents                            0.749716                 11.337627
British pence                               1.833993                  4.634696
South African cents                         6.626434                 56.324689
New Zealand cents                           0.656200                 12.953368






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