MELBOURNE -(Dow Jones)- BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) said Thursday work has been halted on the rail component of its US$4.8 billion Rapid Growth Project 5 iron ore expansion in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

A spokeswoman for the miner said the company had become concerned that some health and safety requirements weren't being met by the contractor working on the rail line.

"As a result, we have asked the contractor to meet our requirements before they recommence work," she said.

Work has been halted for the past three days and BHP said it expected it would recommence in the next day or two.

The miner has had a series of fatalities at its iron ore operations in the Pilbara, and some have pointed the finger at its reliance on contractors as opposed to the owner-operator model employed by the other big producer in the region, Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP).

RGP5 is designed to add 50 million tons of iron ore production a year to BHP's Pilbara operations with the first production due in the second half of 2011.

-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094; alex.wilson@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 04, 2009 21:55 ET (02:55 GMT)

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