Mining giant BHP vouched for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) as part of the approval process for the foundation to receive $443 million from the government to help restore the reef.



The grant approval process occurred weeks after the funding was announced.

BuzzFeed News filed a freedom of information request for the grant approval documents and this week obtained 357 pages.

As part of the process the GBRF supplied three referee letters to the Department of Environment and Energy to vouch for the foundation's fundraising abilities and work on the reef, with the first letter coming from BHP.

In the letter BHP's manager of social investment in Australia, David Bunting, said the GBRF had had an association with BHP since 2007, when then BHP executive director Chris Lynch was on the foundation's chairman's panel. Current CEO of BHP Andrew Mackenzie is on the panel today.

"Over the term of our 11-year partnership GBRF has always fulfilled their contractual obligations, and strives to go above and beyond, delivering strong return on investment through employee engagement, profiling opportunities and joint outreach and communication activities such as World Science Festival," Bunting wrote.