The newly installed head of the company told the ABC that he would be seeking to grow the businesses by operational excellence instead.

“We’re building this company’s future on four and possibly five pillars: iron ore, coal, petroleum and copper – and we’ve started to talk about potash,” Mackenzie said.

“And even within that I think we’re clear that more of the growth capital is likely to go towards things like petroleum, copper and potash and we’ll see how we go with iron ore.

“We’re probably finished for a time investing in coal.”

Mackenzie would not rule out further cuts in the company’s coal business.

“I don’t want to talk about individual assets,” he said.

“It’s always possible that someone else might want to take them from us and invest more and we’ll listen to them if they come but I have nothing in the offing and nothing to share today.”

Early this month the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance announced it had given up trying to sell its Gregory Crinum complex in Queensland after improvements in the underground mine made the operation more economic.

The company – which flagged the sale of the assets in February as part of a strategy of reducing the number of underperforming mines in its portfolio – had decided it could eke more value out of the operation by optimising its performance instead of selling it at fire sale prices.

Reports surfaced in May that BMA was ready to offload Gregory Crinum to emerging coal player Linc Energy.

Mackenzie said he expected the company to squeeze more profitability from the significant investment it had made in its existing operations.

“Growth for us is about growth in free cash flow,” he said.

“You could add more productive capacity by investing … or you could take what you’ve got and make it more productive.

“Operational excellence and making what we’ve installed more productive is my principal lever of growth going forward.”

BHP Billiton’s Illawarra Coal division in New South Wales reported record production for 2013 of 7.9 million tonnes of metallurgical coal.

However, the mining giant warns the dream run will come to an end in the September quarter when a longwall move at West Cliff is scheduled.

The strong result from Illawarra Coal – which includes the soon to be expanded Appin mine – contributed to BHP Billiton’s total 13% metallurgical coal increase for the financial year to 38Mt.

Illawarra Coal’s $845 million Appin area number 9 project will maintain its production capacity with a replacement mining domain and capacity to produce 3.5Mt per annum of metallurgical coal.

The project is on schedule and budget and is 44% complete.

Not to be outdone, BHP Billiton’s Queensland coal production in the June 2013 quarter increased by 54% from the prior corresponding period to an annualised rate of 61Mt.

The Daunia and Broadmeadow life extension projects delivered first production during the 2013 financial year, ahead of schedule.