Commodities
BHP copper output falls 19% as Escondida slumps, but the miner holds its annual target
BHP produced 400,700 tonnes of copper in the September quarter, short of forecasts, leaving the rest of its fiscal year to carry its unchanged guidance.
HedgeWeekly News Desk ·
BHP's copper production fell 19% from a year earlier to 400,700 tonnes in the quarter to September 30, the first quarter of its 2027 fiscal year. The figure was below the 423,600-tonne consensus cited by ABC News. Australian materials stocks fell 1.2% on Tuesday and the ASX 200 closed down 0.3% at 8,816.
Chief executive Brandon Craig attributed the decline to planned grade declines and scheduled maintenance, along with severe weather in Chile, safety stops and a conveyor failure at Carrapateena in South Australia. Output at Escondida in Chile, the company's largest copper mine, dropped 23% year on year to 252,600 tonnes, according to Shanghai Metals Market's summary of the report. Spence fell 15% and Copper South Australia 16%, while BHP's share of Antamina in Peru rose 18%.
Elsewhere the report was firmer. BHP said its Western Australia iron ore business set mine and port records, and coal output at BMA and NSW Energy Coal rose from a year earlier. Stage 1 of the Jansen potash project in Canada is 87% complete and on track for first production in mid-2027. Craig noted copper prices were about 50% higher than a year earlier.
Why it matters: BHP kept its fiscal 2027 copper guidance at 1.65 million to 1.80 million tonnes, and Escondida's at 1.00 million to 1.10 million tonnes. Four quarters at the September pace would come to roughly 1.6 million tonnes, below the bottom of the range, so the company needs a stronger run through June to deliver. With copper prices well above last year's levels, investors in the miner and in copper itself will watch whether grades and weather at Escondida recover in the December quarter, or whether guidance comes under pressure later in the fiscal year.