PotashPagesUpcoming Community Information Sessions

October/November 2012

Inside this issueP.1 Community Information SessionsP.2 Jansen Project Photo UpdateP.3 Paint Saskatchewan Pink 2P.4 Port Update

The BHP Billiton annual information sessions are coming again to your local communities again.

The information sessions are open to the public and are a great opportunity for communities to find out more about what BHP Billiton is doing in Saskatchewan, get an update on the Jansen Potash Project, to ask questions and to meet our growing potash team.

At each session, the doors will be open at 6:00 pm, with the presentation starting at 7:00 pm, followed by a question and answer period at about 8:00 pm. Community members will have the chance to ask questions in an open forum or complete a questionnaire to be contacted with more information. Refreshments will be served. BHP Billiton employees will be present to answer any questions before or after the session.

The sessions will be as follows:

If you have any questions, please contact Serge Pelletier at serge.sj.pelletier@bhpbilliton.com or at 306-385-8410.

Tuesday 20 November 2012Jansen, Town Hall

Wednesday 21 November 2012LeRoy, High School

Thursday 22 November 2012Watson, Town Hall

Tuesday 27 November 2012Humboldt, Uniplex

Wednesday 28 November 2012Wynyard, Civic Centre

Thursday 29 November 2012Lanigan, Town Hall

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Did You Know......The Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre celebrated its 40th Anniversary providing the 74 First Nations of Saskatchewan with valuable services in language and culture. Congratulations to the SICC on the work you do strengthening and supporting language and culture.

Jansen Potash ProjectPhoto Update

Service Shaft Sinking HeadframeSept 2012

Service Shaft Collar House

Service Shaft Collar House

Service Shaft Sinking HeadframeAugust 2012

Service and Production

Shaft Sinking Headframes

Service Shaft Sinking Headframe and Collar House

Jansen Potash Project - August 2012

Punnichy School VanBHP Billiton’s continues its support of the Punnichy High School by proudly presented the Horizon School Division keys to a new van. The Punnichy High School will use the van to transport students to and from educational and recreational activities. BHP Billiton looks forward to more opportunities to work with the youth at Punnichy High School. We wish the students grades 9 to 12 at Punnichy High School great happiness and success in your 2012 school year.

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Enchanted Forest Holiday Light Tour 2012-2013BHP Billiton Canada Inc. is proud to again be the title sponsor of the Enchanted Forest Holiday Light Tour in support of the Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation and the Saskatoon Zoo Foundation. The Enchanted Forest is a spectacular Saskatchewan tradition and BHP Billiton is excited to help “light up” the holidays for the third consecutive year.

It is in this spirit of partnership that we are proud to be part of a truly Saskatchewan tradition. In the past, close to 60,000 visitors have attended the Holiday Light Tour every year, not only from Saskatoon but from over 85 communities throughout Saskatchewan and places beyond. This is an important part of the holiday season for thousands of favmilies.

Stop by the Enchanted Forest this holiday season!

In July, BHP Billiton was inspired by its employees and contractors, who managed to raise over $200,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, with their Paint Saskatchewan Pink 2 events.

The events, which saw about 800 employees and contractors from Saskatoon, the Jansen Potash Project Site, Rosetown (exploration) and Toronto, were initiated and driven by

employees and supported by the company with its matched giving program. The events involved a public barbecue, breast cancer awareness programs and personal initiatives by employees.

The funds have been donated to the Prairies/NWT Region of the Foundation and will go towards breast cancer research, education and awareness programs. This is the second

year BHP Billiton employees have run the Paint Saskatchewan Pink event, having raised $105,000 in 2011.

We look forward to Paint Saskatchewan Pink 3 next year.

(See Page 4 for more photos.)

Paint Saskatchewan Pink 2

Seismic Exploration At Manitou LakeBHP Billiton completed a 3D seismic survey across Little Manitou Lake in early October. The objective of the survey was to fill in a data gap in the Young project area where land seismic data had been acquired in 2008. This challenging operation blended land and marine seismic techniques, equipment, and skilled personnel. Ocean bottom cables with hydrophones attached were laid across the lake using specially designed cable boats and were connected to tie lines on the lake shore extending 1 km on land. A fit for purpose air gun boat was imported to be used as the energy source and 1503 ‘pops’ were shot in a grid on the lake. The operations were carefully planned and executed to take place in a narrow window following summer recreational lake use, outside of environmentally sensitive periods for migrating birds, and prior to the freezing of the lake.

Page 4PotashPages October/November 2012

BHP Billiton Canada Inc. 130 3rd Avenue South, Saskatoon SK S7K 1L3

Phone 1-888-599-BHPB (2472) Email dspexternalaffairs@bhpbilliton.com Web www.bhpbilliton.com

BHP Billiton is the world’s largest diversified natural resources company. We have some 41,000 employees working in more than 100 operations in 25 countries. BHP Billiton occupies industry leader or near industry leader positions in major commod-ity businesses, including aluminum, energy coal and metallurgical coal, copper, manganese, iron ore, uranium, nickel, silver and titanium minerals, and has substantial interests in oil, gas, liquefied natural gas and diamonds. Since 1998 BHP Billiton has been operating Canada’s first diamond mine; EKATI Diamond Mine. EKATI is located in the Northwest Territories and produces approximately four million carats of rough diamonds annually, representing approximately three per cent of current world rough diamond supply by weight and six per cent by value.

Potash Pages is a quarterly publication printed on recycled paper.

Port UpdateTo date, the primary construction activity at the BHP Billiton Potash Export Terminal Project at the Port of Vancouver, Washington, has been the installation of 463 of the planned 1,400 stone columns in the shoreline area. An additional 900 stone columns are planned for the dumper pit. The columns are being installed on 9-foot centers to a depth of 80 feet.

Ground stabilization is an important component of site development because the port site is within a seismic hazard area with liquefaction-prone soils. Geologically speaking, the site is located within the Cascadia Subduction Zone. As a result, the site has been designed to withstand any ground settlement or ground shaking amplification which could occur. In addition to ground stabilization, all site improvements have all been designed with earthquakes in mind.

Stone columns, our chosen ground improvement technique, involve forming compressed columns of gravel within identified areas. The introduction and compaction of the gravel displaces in situ soils resulting in the

densification of sands and consolidation of silts. No soil is removed during installation. The compacted stone columns significantly reduce the vertical load transmitted to the surrounding soils, reducing settlement.

Stone columns are installed using a downhole vibratory probe to create subsurface vertical aggregate columns to reinforce, densify, and drain potentially liquefiable soils. They are installed using a process where the probe’s weight and vibrations cause it to advance to the design depth where crushed gravel is fed into the soil at the vibrator tip, using air pressure through a feed pipe, attached to the vibrator. Water jetting (quick, high pressured blasts of water) is used, as necessary, to advance the probe past any dense layers. In addition, wick drains are being installed between the stone columns to drain excess pore water pressure during column installation and during an earthquake.

HSE issues being managed during stone column installation include:

• mud management in the installation area

• management and separation of spoils from within and outside the shoreline restrictive covenant area

• potential for air percolation causing turbidity in the river

• worker/equipment interactions

Stone Column Installation at the Port of Vancouver, Washington

Paint Saskatchewan Pink 2 Photos(cont’d from page 3)