BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers said Wednesday that none of his company's staff had been questioned by Chinese authorities in the wake of Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu's arrest.
Kloppers said the world's largest miner was operating as normal in China and had not been impacted by a crackdown on alleged corruption in the iron ore market that resulted in Hu's arrest last month.
"We're certainly not aware of anything and it's pretty much business as usual for us," he said when asked if Chinese investigators had quizzed BHP staff.
"I would be disingenuous if I said I'm not watching it very closely.
"Obviously we're operating as normal and beyond that I don't really have any insight into the situation about a matter that effectively concerns a competitor."
Hu, an Australian passport-holder, was detained in Shanghai on July 5 along with three Chinese colleagues involved in iron ore negotiations .
He was formally arrested Wednesday and Australian officials said he was facing allegations of "trade secrets infringement and bribery".
State media reported that Chinese investigators were seeking to arrest a number of local steel executives suspected of handing commercial secrets to mining giant Rio Tinto as their probe into the iron ore industry continues.
Kloppers said BHP's iron ore business in China was proceeding as normal and dismissed suggestions that China was moving to buy more iron ore from Brazil, rather than relying on Australian producers.
"We're selling every gram of iron ore that we can produce," he said.
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