BHP Billiton announces huge copper discovery in Chile

"In order to properly and rapidly evaluate identified exploration targets, decisions were recently made to aggressively expand the exploration and development drilling program" in the area, the company said.

The new Pampa Escondida project, as it is called, was discovered during extensive exploration of the area begun in recent years, it said.

"Drilling to date suggests that Pampa Escondida contains at least one billion metric tonnes of porphyry style mineralisation," the report added.

The BHP Billiton finding follows last Thursday's announcement by Chilean state-run mining group Codelco, the biggest copper producer in the world, of a copper find called "Casualidad" with an estimated yield of 300 million tonnes.

Minera Escondida is the world's biggest copper mine, which produced a record 6.5 billion dollars of copper last year.

Chile is the world's biggest producer of copper, which is used for electrical wiring and plumbing.