Efficiency and Growth Project

Joint venture partners in the Worsley Alumina project BHPBilliton, Japan Alumina Associates and Sojitz Alumina Pty Ltd have begun a full feasibility study to increase production at the Worsley refinery to 4.3 million tonnes a year.

The expansion is based on a $900 million construction project to upgrade the capacity of mining and refinery facilities at Boddington and Worsley. This expansion will be achieved by expanding mining operations within Worsley's lease area, increasing the capacity of the conveyor that carries crushed bauxite from Boddington to the refinery and modifications and upgrades at the refinery.

The site is located approximately 20 kilometers northwest of Collie and approximately 180 kilometers south of Perth, Western Australia. The project is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2006 and will take approximately 24 months to complete.

The joint venture partners have contracted Bechtel Australia Pty Ltd to deliver Engineering Procurement and Construction Management services covering the Feasibility, Transition and Execution phases of the expansion.

Rapid Growth Project 4

BHP Billiton has approved the Rapid Growth Project 4 (RGP4) which will increase system capacity across its Western Australian iron ore operations to 155 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). Initial production is expected to commence in the first half of CY2010.

BHP Billiton has approved capital expenditure of US$1.85 billion for its share of the project, which includes development of a new crushing and screening plant, as well as additional stockyards, car dumping and train loading facilities at Mt Whaleback. Infrastructure upgrades will also be implemented at satellite orebodies and the rail and port operations. BHP Billiton’s partners in the Pilbara iron ore operations are: Itochu Minerals & Energy of Australia, Mitsui-Itochu Iron and Mitsui Iron Ore Corporation.

Key elements of RGP4 include:

Mines
• Construction of crushing and screening facilities at Mt Whaleback
• Construction of a new car dumper at Mt Whaleback
• Construction of a new ore processing plant at Jimblebar
• Ore handling plant upgrades at Yandi

Port
• Car dumper upgrade at Nelson Point
• Construction of a second stockpile row in the East Yard at Finucane Island
• Construction of new offices, warehouse and workshops at Finucane Island
• General infrastructure upgrades to reduce dust emissions

Rail
• Additional locomotives
• Additional ore wagons
• Additional mainline sidings

Fortescue (Cape Preston) Mine and Pellet Plant mining and mineral processing 2000 Dec-07 Dec-10 North West Mineralogy/International Minerals (Wu han Iron & Steel Group Corporation)

Pilbara Iron Ore and Infrastructure Project Fortescue Metals Group Limited will construct rail and port facilities to support the development and sale of the Pilbara's stranded iron ore bodies. Its philosophy is an open third party access regime for other mining users as espoused by the Government. The rail and port assets will be owned by The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Ltd (TPI) - currently a wholly - owned subsidiary of FMG. TPI includes the mine ore handling facility, railway from Cloud Break to Port Hedland and a port facility at Port Hedland. The key infrastructure parameters include:

-255 kms of railway from Cloud Break to Port Hedland
-4 train sets each comprising 2 locomotives and 200 wagons
-2 berths, a live berth and a lay-by berth designed to handle ships up to 250,000 DWT
-12,500 tph shiploader
-2.4 million tones live stockpile area.

WorleyParson has been appointed the EPCM contractor. The following contractors have been selected for the works:

• Jan de Nul NV for the dredging of the port area at Anderson Point.
• The vessel CSD "Leonardo da Vinci" has been scheduled for the work.
• Metso Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd for the design, manufacture and commissioning of the train unloader at Anderson Point.
• FFE Minerals for the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of Excel 1100 crushers at the Cloud Break mine site.
• BGC Contracting for earthworks and culvert construction along the entire 255km route of the rail line.

The capital cost for the project is estimated at A$1.95 billion. Fortescure is targeting to have the first ore shipped in late 2007.

Jangardup South Mineral Sands Mine mining and mineral processing 40 Jun-10 Jun-12 North West Cable Sands'

Yalgoo Project mining and mineral processing 388.5 Jul-09 Jan-11 Mid West Ferrowest

Kalgoorlie Nickel Project mining and mineral processing 1400 Jul-11 Jul-13

• Goldfields
• Esperance
• Heron Resources

The Perth Seawater Desalination Project comprises the design, construction and operation of a 45 gigalitre per year desalination plant to be located in Kwinana, 25km south of Perth, Western Australia. The project scope includes seawater intake, pretreatment, reverse osmosis desalination, drinking water potabilisation and pumping station. Multiplex is responsible jointly with Degremont for the design and construction of the $387 million plant.

The Project is executed in an Alliance Arrangement with the Water Corporation in two phases covered by separate Design/Construct and Operation/Maintenance contracts. The plant is scheduled for completion by end of April 2007, with potable water supplies being progressively delivered following commissioning in October 2006.

Karara Magnetite Project

The development of the substantial Karara Magnetite Project will bring significant economic and social benefits to the Mid West region, including employment and additional infrastructure and support services opportunities.

Karara will host mining operations for the magnetite iron ore project and is the designated site for a processing plant that will produce high-grade magnetite concentrate.

The unique characteristics of the Karara magnetite deposit include a low level of impurities, the consistency of the orebody and an exceptionally low waste:ore stripping ratio, underpinning cost-competitive mining and processing.

High-grade magnetite concentrate (68.2 per cent iron) will be railed initially to the Port of Geraldton, for export to Yingkou in north-east China, where it will be fed into a 4Mtpa joint venture facility, to produce blast-furnace quality iron pellets. The balance of the concentrate shipped will be purchased directly by AnSteel for its sintering operations.

The interim 1.43 billion tonne Karara magnetite resource, which includes an initial ore reserve measuring 497 million tonnes of 36.3 per cent iron, will support an operation likely to extend over several decades.

Drilling is continuing with the support of AnSteel which is keen to expand production beyond the initial estimated 8Mtpa of concentrate, to support the steel mill's future expansion.

Gindalbie and its Joint Venture partner AnSteel remain on schedule to commence producing both concentrate and pellets in 2010.