SHANGHAI, Jan 15: BHP Billiton on Tuesday presented China with the gold, silver and copper that will adorn victorious athletes at the Beijing Olympics in August.

The medals feature Chinese jade, treasured by ancient emperors, but the ores come across the sea from Chile and Australia, reflecting modern China’s reliance on trade for raw materials.

BHP Billiton, a sponsor of the Beijing Games as well as the Sydney Games in 2000, supplied the ores for 57,000 gold, silver, bronze and commemorative medals for the Olympics and Paralympic Games from its Cannington mine in Queensland, and from its Escondida and Spence operations in Chile.

The metal will be refined in Henan and Anhui province, in central China, and the medals will be ready in June.—Reuters