BHP planning to sell uranium to China 'for decades'The world's biggest mining company BHP Billiton BHP Billiton is the world's largest mining company.[1] Its origin is in the 2001 merger of Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) and the UK's Billiton, which has a South African background. The result is a dual-listed company. said Wednesday it intended to supply uranium to China for decades to come as the Asian superpower ramps up its nuclear energy programme. The chief executive of the Anglo-Australian miner, Marius Kloppers Marius Kloppers (born August 26 1962) is to be the next CEO of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company.[1] He is presently the group president of BHP's non ferrous metals division. , said BHP Billiton was "very actively positioning" to take advantage of China's move towards greater use of nuclear energy. "As China is developing its nuclear programme, what it's doing is it's gearing up for a bigger build programme," Kloppers said in a video address sent to shareholders. "That will take a couple of years, but clearly we are positioning the company to, from our side, participate in that over decades, not just a couple of years." BHP Billiton, whose Olympic Dam in South Australia South Australia, state (1991 pop. 1,236,623), 380,070 sq mi (984,381 sq km), S central Australia. It is bounded on the S by the Indian Ocean. Kangaroo Island and many smaller islands off the south coast are included in the state. holds the world's largest known uranium reserves, said nuclear energy could help cut back on carbon emissions, which are generated from the burning of fossil fuels fossil fuel: see energy, sources of; fuel. fossil fuel Any of a class of materials of biologic origin occurring within the Earth's crust that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. such as coal. "If the world is serious about cutting carbon emissions, then you cannot have a debate without the nuclear piece in that debate, because it is the most efficient way to cut carbon emissions," company chairman Don Argus Don Argus is an Australian businessman, and the current chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles. Argus spent much of his early career in the banking industry. He was the general manager of products and service at the National Australia Bank (NAB) having being at the bank since said. Australia and China last year ratified a nuclear agreement clearing the way for the export of uranium to feed Beijing's giant nuclear power programme. While BHP Billiton does not yet have any supply contracts with China, it exports uranium to the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada and the United States The United States and Canada share a unique legal relationship. U.S. law looks northward with a mixture of optimism and cooperation, viewing Canada as an integral part of U.S. economic and environmental policy. . BHP Billiton also announced Wednesday in its annual report to shareholders a 22.6 percent upgrade in the uranium reserves at its Olympic Dam mine to 283,800 tonnes. The mine produced some 4,144 tonnes of uranium last financial year. 
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