BHP Group Limited — Major Shareholding Notification 2009

Dec 6, 2009

Company Secretariat

Issued by: BHP Billiton Plc To: London Stock Exchange cc: New York Stock Exchange Swiss Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange JSE Limited Deutsche Bank UBS Zurich Date: 4 December 2009 For Release: Immediately Contact: Geof Stapledon +44 20 7802 4176

Notification of Major Interest in Shares

The following notification was received yesterday, 3 December 2009, by BHP Billiton Plc from BlackRock, Inc. relating to major interests in shares of BHP Billiton Plc.

BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in Australia Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Registered Office: Neathouse Place, London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom Telephone +61 1300 55 4757 Facsimile +61 3 9609 3015 Telephone +44 20 7802 4000 Facsimile +44 20 7802 4111

The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia

For filings with the FSA include the annex For filings with issuer exclude the annex	For filings with the FSA include the annex For filings with issuer exclude the annex	For filings with the FSA include the annex For filings with issuer exclude the annex
TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi
1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:ii		BHP Billiton PLC
2 Reason for the notification(please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights
An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached
An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
Other (please specify):
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation:iii	BlackRock, Inc.
4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.):iv	N/A
5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached: v	1stDecember 2009
6. Date on which issuer notified:	3rdDecember 2009
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:vi, vii	Holding has gone above 5%

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares[viii, ix]

8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:
A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix
Class/type of shares if possible using the ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction		Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
	Number of Shares	Number of Voting Rights	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights~~x~~
			Direct	Directxi	Indirectxii	Direct	Indirect
GB0000566504	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	210,669,620	N/A	9.55%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Expiration datexiii	Exercise/ Conversion Periodxiv	Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/ converted.	% of voting rights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Exercise price	Expiration datexvii	Exercise/ Conversion period xviii	Number of voting rights instrument refers to	% of voting rights~~xix,~~ xx
CFD	N/A	N/A	N/A	2,037,449	Nominal	Delta
					0.09%

Total (A+B+C)

Total (A+B+C)	Total (A+B+C)
Number of voting rights	Percentage of voting rights
213,014,043	9.65%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:[xxi]

On 1 December 2009, the Barclays Global Investors (BGI) business was acquired by BlackRock, Inc. The combined holdings of BlackRock, Inc following this acquisition triggered this disclosure requirement.

BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited – 213,014,043 (9.65%)

Proxy Voting: 10. Name of the proxy holder: 11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold: 12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:	BlackRock Compliance Disclosures Team
14. Contact name:	Stuart Watchorn
15. Contact telephone number:	020 7743 5741; stuart.watchorn@blackrock.com