BHP doubling down on organic growth with ‘Plan A’
The world’s biggest mining company, BHP, is sticking with its ‘Plan A’ of growing organically, CEO Mike Henry told investors this week.
“We have been clear throughout that we are not driven by M&A [mergers and acquisitions] at all. Plan A for us is to grow organically,” he says.
Henry stresses that BHP is not going to be pressured into acquisitions. “We’ll be opportunistic about them, and we’ll only pursue them where we can see value being unlocked for BHP shareholders in absolute terms.”
Reflecting on BHP’s £38.6-million bid to buy Anglo American earlier this year, Henry notes there was “certainly” an opportunity for BHP shareholders, but with Anglo shareholders choosing to pursue their own strategy, BHP has “continued with our Plan A”.
The commitment to organic growth was evident in BHP’s results presentation this week, where Henry outlined plans to double copper production in Australia, while continuing investments in South American.
In South Australia, BHP’s strategy aims to ramp up production to 650 000 t/y by the mid-2030s – up from the current output of between 310 000 t/y to 340 000 t/y.
Beyond Australian growth, BHP has made significant strides in narrowing down its expansion plans at its Chilean copper operations. At Escondida, Henry sees the potential for an additional 200 000 t/y of copper production. BHP is also exploring the expansion of the concentrator at Spence and extending the life of its leaching operations. At Cerro Colorado, 1.7-billion tonnes of inferred resources could justify restarting operations.
BHP has also strengthened its copper portfolio in Argentina, acquiring a 50% stake in the Filo del Sol and Josemaria copper projects.
“I am hoping that the meat we are putting on the bones of our copper growth prospects through the presentation and an upcoming site visit to Escondida will give everybody greater confidence that, when we talk about Plan A, we actually mean Plan A, and that plan is pretty attractive in its own right,” Henry concludes.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation