AUSTRALIAN multinational mining giant BHP has heralded positive results in their 2023-24 financial year operational review, off the back of a strong fourth quarter performance.
BHP’s Western Australian iron ore (WAIO) production saw a production of 259 million tonnes for the recent financial year, 69 million of which came in the last quarter.
The South Flank iron ore site hit full operational capacity at 80 million tonnes per annum, contributing to WAIO achieving record lump sales for the year.
The company’s iron ore business includes iron ore mines, rail and port operations in the Pilbara region.
Strong performances were posted for BHP’s copper business, underpinned by the highest production in four years at the Escondida site and record production from Spence, both in Chile.
BHP CEO Mike Henry said of the financial year results, “We finished the year with a strong fourth quarter, achieving several production records and we are meeting current production and unit cost guidance for all commodities”.
“We successfully completed the sale of the Blackwater and Daunia metallurgical coal operations on 2 April 2024. After a challenging year at BMA, we have plans in place to increase production to between 43 and 45 Mtpa (100%) in the next five years.”
Mr Henry also underlined the company’s Jansen potash mine in Canada, where he said construction of Stage 1 is now more than 50 percent complete and Stage 2 is underway.
Production there is scheduled to begin 2026, which Mr Henry says will see BHP become a major global producer of potash by the end of the decade.
However, the year results were not completely positive for BHP, with the company announcing on 11 July the temporary suspension of Western Australia nickel operations from October 2024, a result of an oversupply of nickel in the global market and resulting low prices.
Further, operations were temporarily suspended at Queensland’s Saraji site in January, following the fatality of an employee.
Into the future, BHP projects continued positive production increases for a number of sites going into the financial year 2025-26, aside from nickel and coal production, which are both expected to decrease.
