ESCONDIDA / ESCONDIDA NORTE

BHP Billiton announced approval of US$554 million (US$319 million BHP Billiton share) for the Escondida Ore Access project (EOA), the first of a number of development options at Escondida mine, Chile.

BHP Billiton is seeking approval to build a $US3.5 billion ($A4.32 billion) water desalination plant to service its Escondida copper mine in northern Chile, one of the world's top sources of the metal, a company spokesman said Saturday.

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest diversified resources stock, cruised through the $200bn market capitalisation barrier in the last 24 hours, and continued to lead its peers and mining stocks on exchanges from London and Sydney to New York and Johannesburg, reports Mineweb. The group was worth $29bn six years ago, just ahead of the commodity and metals boom, when Australia-based BHP merged with London-Johannesburg listed Billiton.