2004 LUMP IRON ORE PRICE

BHP Billiton Limited
15 January 2004

BHP BILLITON SETTLES 2004 LUMP IRON ORE PRICE


BHP Billiton today announced it had reached agreement with Nippon Steel on the
price of its Lump iron ores for the year commencing 1 April 2004. Negotiations
with other Japanese customers are continuing.

The agreed price is as follows:



•         Mt Newman High Grade Lump 45.93 US cents per dry metric tonne unit; an
          increase of 18.62 per cent.*



Prices for BHP Billiton's other Lump iron ore products will increase by similar
percentages.



*Please see the notes on the following page.





Notes:



•         Following agreement on the annual percentage change, Japanese iron ore
prices are denominated in US cents per dry metric tonne unit, which reflects a
common base per unit of iron content.



•         To determine the USD price per tonne, the following conversion formula
must be used:

          o        US cents per dry metric tonne unit multiplied by iron content

          o        The iron content for Mt Newman Lump ores is about 65%



•         In FY2003 BHP Billiton's Western Australian iron ore operations sold
80.3 million tonnes (100% basis) of ore.



•         Lump ores represented about 25% of BHP Billiton's FY2003 sales.



•         The reference price of Fine ores is usually established first as this
represents about      60% of the traded market. Prices for Lump and Pellets are
then usually determined as a premium to the Fines price.





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www.bhpbilliton.com


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