Reportedly, Australia based mining giant BHP Billiton was aiming to cut more costs in all its mining units in Australia, planning a US$1.6-billion productivity gains in a 2 year period.

The company was targeting the large, long-life and low-cost operations that affected its margins in the future, even though it has been reducing costs for the past 5 years already.

Besides the 10% cost drop in unit costs, the mining giant has a number of medium-term investment options that enabled it to have more options in profit growth if approved.