So BHP Billiton are going to be investing in an iron ore project in Liberia. Sounds like a good neighbourhood, but not really. Plain diversification but the timing of the release will make it look like the opposite. Quite simply because negotiations between the Liberian government and BHP Billiton have been ongoing for the better part of 18 months according to the wires. The source and let me quote Reuters: "an official in the West African country said on Monday." Check out the original Reuters article Liberia, BHP sign $3 bln iron ore deal.
Remember the announcement from January this year, BHP Billiton and ArcelorMittal enter preliminary discussion to potentially combine assets in Liberia and Guinea. But there has been no official release on the BHP Billiton website, and the company is normally very good at communicating to their shareholders. It sounds more like a PR exercise, but I guess time will tell.