BHP Billiton PLC's (BHP.LN) aluminum business will continue to remain focused on the production of bauxite, alumina and smelted metal, and will look for "good tier resources in the ground" as it grows, the company's aluminum president said Tuesday.

"We need to pick a part of the production chain," Jon Dudas told the Metal Bulletin aluminum conference in Duesseldorf, Germany, noting that the company doesn't plan to focus on rolled products, known as the downstream part of the production chain.

"We'll look for good tier resources in the ground and good power to convert that" into production, he added.

Dudas said as an integrated aluminum producer, BHP Billiton generates power at various sites around the world.

"Power is absolutely a function of what's the lowest cost availability," he added.

"We'll still look to develop power as it's important to any smelter we control in the future," he told delegates.

Aluminum production is extremely energy intensive, with power accounting for around a third of overall production costs.

-By Andrea Hotter, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9413; andrea.hotter@dowjones.com