BHP shuts Australia iron ore mine after fatality

SYDNEY (Reuters) - BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) has shut its giant Yandi iron ore mine in Australia until further notice while it investigates a fatality, the company said on Tuesday.

The mine yielded about 40 million tonnes of ore last year, making it one of the largest of its kind in the Pilbara iron belt of west Australia.

The mine will stay closed pending an investigation into the cause of the accident, said a BHP spokeswoman.

BHP holds an 85 percent interest in the mine. Japan's Mitsui Iron Ore Corp holds 7 percent and another Japanese entity, Itochu Minerals and Energy of Australia (8001.T), has 8 percent.

Details of the incident were still being established with the help of emergency workers and police, BHP said in a later statement.

It is the third fatality at a BHP mine in less than a month. A worker was killed at the Klipspruit coal mine in South Africa when a drill rig toppled over. A day earlier an employee was killed at the company's Port Hedland, Australia iron ore loading facility.

BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers earlier this month expressed disappointment with the safety record of the world's biggest mining house after 11 employees were killed during the last financial year at various sites around the world and said safety in the company needed to improve.

(Reporting by James Regan)