Hi Lovesilver, BHP was looking at a joint project with a Chinese...

Hi Lovesilver, BHP was looking at a joint project with a Chinese company and CFU at one stage not too long ago?

BHP knows they need to become more Energy Efficient in their operations. They obviously have alot of planning to do to achieve this & CFU would need to manufacture an "off-Grid" LPG Fuel Cell - but BHP knows Decentralised Energy is the future. BHP could easily utilise Solar Energy at a number of their operations...

You're right about the declining Ore Grades. A Vale Executive said this in April:

"Declining ore grades are "a reality" for Brazilian mining company Vale SA..."

"Vale has been mining iron ore at Itabira in Minas Gerais for about 70 years and is now producing lower-grade ore types at the site as the higher-quality types are no longer there, Mello said."

"Vale has the world's best grades of iron ore at Carajas in Brazil's Para state "but in 50 years time the situation could be different..."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/vale-exec-declining-ore-grades-are-reality-2012-04-18

So this means extracting resources out of the ground becomes a more ENERGY INTENSIVE process, as they need to use leeching & concentration technologies to extract from lower Ore Grades. Also, as you state, Oil would become more expensive in a supply-constrained world. So these Mining Companies require HIGHER Commodity prices to justify the higher costs of extracting them out of the ground.

RESOURCE DEPLETION :)