BHP flags full-year copper production to hit upper end of guidance, CMRG negotiations finish
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The news: Mining giant BHP has told the market that it expects full-year copper production to come in at the upper half of the guidance range even as its third quarter output falls 7% year on year.
BHP also announced it had “concluded iron ore sales contract negotiations with the China Minerals Resources Group”. The months-long standoff involved reported boycotts of some BHP products.
The numbers: Copper production fell 7% year on year to 476,800 tonnes, 3% lower compared to the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, iron ore production was up 2% year on year to 62.8 million tonnes but 10% down on the previous quarter.
Steelmaking coal production fell 3% year on year to 3.8 million tonnes and is 11% down compared to the last quarter. Energy coal lifted 12% year on year to 4 million tonnes but was 12% down compared to the previous quarter.
The context: Production at the Pampa Norte project in Chile is lower due to “challenges with managing the ore complexity, variation and declining grades at both the concentrator and the cathode plant”. Production guidance at the facility has been lowered from between 230 and 250 thousand tonnes to between 210 and 220 thousand tonnes.
The Escondida project in Chile also saw lower production due to planned lower concentrator feed grade despite record material mined and concentrator throughput. Full year production guidance is unchanged and is expected in the upper half of the range.
What they said: “BHP has delivered strong performance over the past nine months, including record material mined and concentrator throughput at Escondida and record production at WAIO,” outgoing BHP CEO Mike Henry said.
“These results reflect the consistency of our operations and the strength of our high margin diversified portfolio in an evolving operating environment”.
The source: ASX
