BHP reviews diamond business

Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton is looking at exiting its diamond business because of limited development opportunities.

The company said many years of extensive exploration suggested there were few options left at its EKATI and Chidliak projects in Canada.

"BHP Billiton's strategy is to invest in large, long life, upstream and expandable assets while remaining a simple and scalable organisation," the firm said.

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"EKATI is a world class operation and Chidliak is a promising exploration opportunity, but many years of extensive exploration suggest there are few options to develop new diamond mines that are consistent with this approach."

The review will examine whether a continued presence in the diamonds industry was consistent with the strategy and evaluate the potential sale of all or part of BHP's diamonds business, the firm said.

The EKATI mine is located 200km kilometres south of the Arctic Circle and BHP said it would work to ensure the site continued to bring social and economic benefits to the region.