See also Belitung for the island formerly known as Billiton.

Billiton was the name of a Dutch and later British-based mining company.

Billiton (mining co.) origins stretch back to 29 September 1860, when the articles of association were approved by a meeting of shareholders in the Groot Keizerhof hotel in The Hague, Netherlands.

Two months later, the company acquired the mineral rights to tin-rich islands of Banka and Billiton in the Indonesian archipelago, off the eastern coast of Sumatra.

Billiton's initial business forays included tin and lead smelting in The Netherlands, followed in the 1940s by bauxite mining in Indonesia and Suriname. In 1970, the Royal Dutch Shell group of companies acquired Billiton and accelerated the scope of progress of this growth.

In 1997, Billiton Plc became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Billiton Plc experienced considerable growth. Its portfolio included aluminium smelters in South Africa and Mozambique, nickel operations in Australia and Colombia, base metals mines in South America, Canada and South Africa, coal mines in Australia, Colombia and South Africa, as well as interests in operations in Brazil, Suriname, Australia (aluminium) and South Africa (titanium minerals and steel and ferroalloys).

In 2001 Billiton Plc merged with the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) to form BHP Billiton.

External link

BHP Billiton website (http://www.bhpbilliton.com)