Copper has overtaken iron ore as the company’s top earnings driver
BHP Group reported a better-than-expected full-year underlying profit on Tuesday (Aug 18), fuelled by higher copper prices as the red metal cemented its lead over iron ore as the miner’s biggest earnings driver.
Copper prices have climbed to record highs above US$14,000 a tonne this year, triggered by the rapid pace of energy-hungry AI data centre buildout and the global shift toward cleaner power, intensifying mining majors’ race to secure high-grade copper assets.
The red metal, including byproducts such as gold and uranium, generated US$18.19 billion in operating earnings in the year ended June 30, surpassing iron ore’s US$14.53 billion to become BHP‘s top earnings driver.
“Copper is the engine that is driving BHP‘s growth,” CEO Brandon Craig said.
“Demand for what we mine is building. Copper demand alone is set to grow from about 34 Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) today to more than 50 Mtpa by 2050.”
BHP, the world’s top copper producer, reported a full-year underlying attributable profit of US$13.20 billion for the year, beating the Visible Alpha consensus of US$12.66 billion. That compared with US$10.16 billion reported a year ago.
It announced a final dividend of 99 cents per share, bringing in the full-year distribution to US$1.72 apiece, the highest in four years, the miner said.
CEO Brandon Craig, who took the top job last month, underlined BHP‘s solid copper outlook for the next decade.
BHP is well placed to produce as much as 40 per cent more copper by 2035, or 2 million tonnes a year, while copper demand is expected to grow to more than 50 million tons per year by 2050 from 34 million tonnes this year.
BHP‘s flagship Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) operations generated US$14.67 billion in operating earnings in the year, up 2 per cent from last year and in line with Visible Alpha consensus of US$14.75 billion.
The miner said it could unlock up to an additional US$3.5 billion in value from its WAIO assets through active capital portfolio and asset management.
Most recently, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) invested US$2 billion in the project’s inland power network for a minority stake.
The miner’s net debt at the end of 2026 financial year fell to US$8.69 billion, below both the target range of US$10 billion to US$12 billion and the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of US$9.10 billion. REUTERS
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