Incident At Yandi

We regret to advise that a collision between a light vehicle and haul truck at BHP Billiton’s Yandi mine site late yesterday has resulted in the death of a HWE Mining employee.

Yandi is located approximately 140km’s north west of Newman and is operated on BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s behalf by HWE Mining.

Police attended the accident scene yesterday evening. BHP Billiton Iron Ore and HWE Mining are working with inspectors from the Mine Safety Directorate.

BHP Billiton Iron Ore has suspended all its Western Australian operations until further notice.

At this stage we can provide no further information, except to stress that our immediate priorities are to provide the best possible assistance to the family and close colleagues of the deceased, and to ensure the safety of all other personnel.

We will provide more details concerning the incident as soon as they become available.