Wheelarra JV/Sales Contracts

BHP Billiton Limited
28 September 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                 28 September 2004
Number               30/04

                 BHP BILLITON SIGNS WHEELARRA JV AND ANNOUNCES
                   US$3.2 BILLION ADDITIONAL SALES CONTRACTS

BHP Billiton today announced the signing of the formal agreement for the
Wheelarra Joint Venture with four of China's leading steel mills and its
existing Japanese joint venture partners, ITOCHU Minerals & Energy of Australia
and Mitsui Iron Ore Corporation.

It also announced that it had secured further long-term sales commitments for
its MAC(TM) iron ore products with these Chinese steel mills worth around US$3.2
billion over the next 10 years.

The Chinese steel mills are:


    Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation, ('WUGANG')
    Maanshan Iron and Steel Company Limited ('MAGANG')
    Jiangsu Shagang Group Co Ltd ('SHAGANG')
    Tangshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd ('TANGGANG')

The Wheelara Joint Venture, announced in March this year, centred on a sub-lease
over BHP Billiton's Jimblebar mine, near Newman in Western Australia and
involved sales of 12 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of Mt. Newman iron ore over
the next 25 years.

The new sales commitments announced today are for the supply of an additional
12Mtpa of MAC(TM) Marra Mamba ore on top of the Mt. Newman iron ore. MAC(TM) ore
is produced at BHP Billiton's Area C mine, 120km north of Newman, which opened
in October 2003.

President BHP Billiton Iron Ore Graeme Hunt said the doubling of sales and
purchase commitments reflects the value of the strategic relationships BHP
Billiton has developed with the Chinese steel mills.

'It is extremely pleasing to see that additional benefits have already started
flowing to both BHP Billiton and its Chinese partners as a result of the
Wheelarra Joint Venture,' he said.

'We were always confident that the agreement would underpin a strategic
relationship which would grow beyond the sales contracts for the Mt Newman iron
ore. This relationship will also ensure BHP Billiton maintains its share of the
growing Chinese iron ore market.'

BHP Billiton has been able to consistently meet the increase in global demand
for iron ore through the responsible and sustainable expansion of its business
over the past eight years.

Since 1994 the company has virtually doubled system capacity to 100Mtpa, with
almost 40Mtpa of this growth achieved in the past two years alone.

The company also announced the Rapid Growth Project in February 2004, which will
increase system capacity to 110Mtpa by the end of 2004, and is nearing
completion of a Feasibility Study into the further expansion of capacity to
145Mtpa.



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

                                      ****
Australia                                                     United Kingdom
Jane Belcher, Investor Relations                              Mark Lidiard, Investor & Media Relations
Tel: [phone] Mobile: [phone]                  Tel: [phone]
email: [e-mail]                         email: [e-mail]

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

United States                                                 South Africa
Francis McAllister, Investor Relations                        Michael Campbell, Investor & Media Relations
Tel: [phone] Mobile: [phone]                  Tel: [phone] Mobile: [phone]
email: [e-mail]                   email: [e-mail]


BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077                     BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209
Registered in Australia                                     Registered in England and Wales
Registered Office: Level 27, 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne  Registered Office: Neathouse Place London SW1V 1BH United
Victoria 3000                                               Kingdom
Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]        Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]

                  The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange   D

CNTIIFSEALITFIS