On 29 September 1860, articles of incorporation were signed and Billiton was created. For the centenary, Billiton commissioned "Honderd Jaar Billiton" by Het Cocktail-Trio. The song celebrated the achievements over Billiton's first century.
Song lyrics
One hundred years Billiton
Precisely one hundred years ago, here in the Netherlands, far from the equator, a company was established.
But the actual beginning, the true fountain of wealth, a broad stream of Tin, was offered by the island Billiton.
Van Tuyl and John Loudon, two fearless men, took a chance on the island Billiton
Often there was a beginning like this, now as well as then.
A partnership needs to do it, first without their families.
A postcard, almost white, a drill, a shaft, a tent.
A region where nobody knows what’s in the ground.
There you settle, close to the horizon, as a man from Billiton and think nothing of it.
After the great adventure, the Tin discovery in the beginning, the broad stream of Tin was no longer exciting.
One looked around the world, and applied some variation.
When one found something else to continue with.
With resin and Bauxite, pigment and pyrochlore and titanium dioxide the Billiton prevails.
What is an era of Tin, Diniobium, Bauxite? happiness or only sorrow?
What is the point? A new location every time
By airplane or ship, always a different trip, following a fixed pattern.
And over and over, on a mountaintop or in a valley, truly everywhere, the Billiton atmosphere.
That’s how a mining company operates, despite some setbacks, which sometimes occurs, a noble way to spend time.
The spoils are hoisted up, and put on transport, after which the dividend is meticulously determined.
This is the way it will always go, on earth and in space, where one day one will go as well.
The Billiton front and center.
