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DJ BHP Closing In On A$3.5B Gabon Iron Ore Deal - Report

MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) is close to striking a A$3.5 billion
deal with the government of Gabon over the Belinga iron ore project, which is said to
contain about 4 billion metric tons of ore, the Australian newspaper reported Wednesday
without citing a source for the information.
A deal would represent BHP's most significant foray into Africa's emerging
iron ore sector, which has already attracted rivals Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) and Vale SA
(VALE) as well as a host of junior exploration companies, the newspaper said in an
article on its website.
It reported that BHP has so far declined to comment.
News agency Reuters in an article Friday cited Sosthene Nguema Nguema, a member of
Gabonese government delegation in charge of overseeing the Belinga project, as saying a
deal with BHP had been reached after the concession had been removed from China National
Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corp., as the Chinese company didn't have
sufficient expertise to mine the resource.