BHP Chief Executive Officer, Mike Henry:
"We’ve made a strong start to the year, highlighted by disciplined operating performance and execution of scheduled maintenance. Group copper production rose 4%, with record concentrator throughput at Escondida.
In iron ore, WAIO delivered another standout quarter, achieving record material mined while completing critical infrastructure upgrades ahead of schedule.
In steelmaking coal, production rose 8%, supported by strong mining rates at Broadmeadow and increased stripping at our open cut mines. We progressed key growth and decarbonisation milestones in the quarter, including securing environmental approval for the Laguna Seca Expansion at Escondida and Copper South Australia entering into its largest renewable electricity agreement.
Both stages of the Jansen potash project in Canada are advancing, with Stage 1 reaching 73% completion and on track for production to begin in 2027, while Stage 2 is now 13% complete. The long-term demand fundamentals for potash are attractive and Jansen is expected to be one of the lowest cost producers.
Overall macro-economic signals for commodity demand remain resilient, and global growth forecasts are moving higher. While we expect some deceleration in growth in H2 CY25, in China we still expect GDP growth of ~5% for the year. In copper, major disruptions at some of our competitors’ mines have tightened overall market fundamentals, benefitting our world-class portfolio of assets.
With momentum from a strong first quarter, BHP is on track to deliver on full-year guidance and we are making progress on our growth pipeline across Australia and the Americas.”