BHP cuts coking coal, copper guidance, narrows iron-ore range

Diversified major BHP Billiton on Wednesday lowered its metallurgical coal and copper production targets, narrowed its iron-ore guidance and said that it plans to sell some noncore US shale gas acreage. The mining major reduced its metallurgical coal production guidance for the 2017 financial year, which will end in June, to between 39-million and 41-million tonnes, from a previous guidance of 44-million tonnes. The lower production forecast is the result of third-party rail infrastructure damage caused by Cyclone Debbie.