BHP is hoping to hit at least 1.8 million tonnes of copper for the full year to June 2025 while it has also provisioned for a stronger iron ore production guidance.
The company’s copper production for the half year period to December 2024 increased by 10% to 987 000 tonnes while its iron ore production was marginally higher by 1% at 131 million tonnes.
The higher copper production was mainly as a result of improved productivity from the Escondida operation in Chile which ramped up by 22% to 644 000 tonnes, achieving a 10-year production record and more than offsetting the impact of a weather-related power outage at South Australia Copper.
“Escondida achieved a 10-year production record in HY25, primarily due to higher
concentrator feed grade of 1.03% (HY24: 0.81%) and higher recoveries as mining progressed into areas of higher-grade ore as planned,” said the company.
BHP is maintaining its full year iron ore production guidance at between 255 million tonnes and 265.5 million tonnes.
Its West Australia Iron Ore operation raised output by 1% during the period under review to 145 million tonnes as a result of continued strong supply chain performance with record volumes delivered from the Central Pilbara hub.
However, production from Samarco in Brazil firmed up by 9% to 2.8 million tonnes. The production increase has been attributed to “the resumption of latent pelletising plant capacity and restart of the second concentrator in December” and ahead of schedule.
This is expected to raise production capacity to 16 million tonnes per annum of pellets when fully ramped up, by the start of the company’s next financial year.
“We made further progress on our growth pathways in future facing commodities. In January, we completed the formation of Vicuña Corp with Lundin Mining to advance the Filo del Sol and Josemaria projects in Argentina, which we consider to be one of the most significant global copper discoveries in decades.
In Canada, our Jansen Stage 1 potash project is now 63% complete, with first production scheduled for late 2026, and we continue to execute Stage 2 in parallel,” said BHP CEO, Mike Henry.
BUSINESS REPORT