BHP History
BHP was incorporated in 1885.
From its early days through to the merger with metals and mining company Billiton, BHP demonstrated an uncanny ability changing and adapting to new opportunities and challenges.
A global natural resources company, BHP engaged in the discovery, development, production and marketing of iron ore, coal, copper, oil and gas, diamonds, silver, lead, zinc and a range of other natural resources. BHP was also a market leader in value-added flat steel products.
BHP comprised three main operating businesses — minerals, petroleum and steel. These commodity streams were supported by a transport and logistics business, a corporate services group, and functional groups for finance, strategy and legal.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, BHP employed around 30,000 employees worldwide.
BHP was listed on stock exchanges in Australia, the UK, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland and the US.
For more information, you can read the text below, download BHP's chronology (in PDF format, 563kb) or view our interactive timeline using the link on the right.
Brief history of BHP
BHP's rich and varied history began in a silver, lead and zinc mine in Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia.
One of the most lucrative deposits in the world at the time, it was later described in the London press as the 'best managed mine in the world'.
In 1899, BHP leased an iron ore mine at Iron Knob in South Australia. Sixteen years later, in 1915, BHP ventured into steel making, commissioning its first steelworks at Newcastle, New South Wales.
After World War I, BHP continued to diversify, forming a shipping fleet, as well as acquiring coal mines and additional reserves of iron ore and limestone. BHP also acquired companies that manufactured finished steel products.
Steel production was expanded in 1935, when BHP acquired Australian Iron and Steel and its Port Kembla steelworks. A few years later, BHP established blast furnace and shipbuilding facilities at Whyalla, South Australia.
In 1967, BHP entered the petroleum industry with a major oil discovery in Bass Strait, off the southeastern coast of Australia.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, BHP's focus shifted offshore, acquiring Utah International Inc, comprising coal mines in New Mexico and Queensland, as well as discovering copper in Chile — this find became the Escondida mine.
Closer to home, local projects included the North West Shelf gas and liquid natural gas (LNG) development off the Western Australia coast.
During the 1990s, BHP acquired several companies, opened new mines, commenced new petroleum production and grew its steel operations. The Cannington silver, lead and zinc mine in central Queensland, Australia commenced production, as did the Ekati Diamond Mine™ in Canada and the Crinum coal mine in Queensland.
