The world’s biggest mining company, BHP, touted its solid copper potential and flagged the investment appeal of the United States on Monday, but was silent on the prospect of major buyouts, as top executives briefed shareholders.
CEO Mike Henry and chief financial officer Vandita Pant answered select questions in the first major opportunity to talk to investors since last week’s blockbuster tie-up of one-time target Anglo American and Teck Resources.
Their answers focused on growth potential from BHP’s Argentinian copper assets, the United States’ investment allure, and production delays at BHP’s Jansen potash project in Canada.
It was unclear if all questions submitted by shareholders were asked. BHP did not immediately reply to a request for comment on how it chose the questions to answer.
“The copper growth story for BHP is one of the big stories,” Henry said. “We have made so much progress…We now have four big copper growth basins on top of the 28% copper growth that we have seen in recent years.”
Those basins include the Vicuna 50-50 joint venture with Lundin Mining in Argentina, the US Resolution tie-up with Rio Tinto, Escondida in Chile and BHP’s South Australian copper operations.
Henry sidestepped a question whether the miner was interested in buying Toronto-listed NGEX Minerals, which is also active in Argentina’s Vicuna district. NGEX did not respond to a request for comment outside office hours.
The question of big ticket mergers and acquisitions was not tackled. The $53-billion Ango-Teck tie-up announced last week is widely expected to spur more M&A action, in a breakthrough after years of failed consolidation efforts in the mining sector.
The deal came just over a year after BHP scrapped a $49-billion bid for Anglo that would in a single acquisition have beefed up the Australian miner’s holding in copper, seen as essential to the energy transition.
Investors and bankers told Reuters last week that they did not expect BHP to gatecrash the current deal, since it is focusing on expanding its own copper assets during a time of leadership renewal.
Henry also said the United States, with half the power costs of Australia, was focused on drawing in mining investment, as Australia reviews productivity.
He also conceded that BHP’s anticipated internal rate of return from its Jansen investment would come under pressure after it raised capital expenditure estimates in July and pushed back first production.
(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
