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Reuters
10-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Copper output from Chile's Codelco slips 6% in February
SANTIAGO, April 10 (Reuters) - Copper production from Chilean state-run miner Codelco dipped 6% year-over-year in February, data from copper commission Cochilco showed on Thursday, slipping to 98,100 metric tons. Codelco is the No. 1 miner of the red metal globally, but has struggled to boost declining output in recent years. Meanwhile production at BHP's ( opens new tab Escondida mine, the world's largest copper mine, leaped 16%, climbing to 113,400 tons. At Collahuasi, another major copper mine jointly run by Glencore (GLEN.L), opens new tab and Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab, output slid 62% to just 17,000 metric tons. Anglo American's Chile head, Patricio Hidalgo, told Reuters earlier this week that the firm expected output at the mine to be skewed toward the second half of the year. "Due to the stage in the mine's life cycle, development in 2025 was going to focus on minerals, which contain less copper," he said.
Reuters
02-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: BHP considered spinning off iron ore, coal divisions
MELBOURNE, April 2 (Reuters) - The world's biggest listed miner BHP Group ( opens new tab considered spinning off its Australian iron ore and coal divisions as part of a medium-term growth strategy, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. As part of a planned focus on future-facing commodities potash and copper, BHP weighed separating out the divisions, as it did with South32 ( opens new tab in 2015, with an Australian listing most likely, two of the sources said. The consideration was underway as BHP was pushing hard to green its business and preparing its bid for Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab in 2023 and 2024, they said, asking to remain anonymous because the issue was sensitive. BHP declined to comment. Such a move would radically reshape BHP, divorcing it from more than half a century of iron ore mining in Australia, where it was incorporated in 1885. Iron ore accounts for approximately 60% of its profits. Unbundling coal with iron ore would also remove the bulk of its carbon exposure. BHP would, however, keep its South Australian copper assets, backing its strategy to be a leading supplier of the metal needed for the energy transition. While BHP opted not to progress with its plans for now, the discussions are an insight into the scale of transformation the miner would consider as it recalibrates its future direction with a change in senior leadership. Former National Australia Bank head Ross McEwan assumed his role as new BHP chair this week, following the departure of Ken MacKenzie, and the contest for a successor to CEO Mike Henry - in his fifth year in the top job - is about to begin. Henry and CFO David Lamont, who stood down from the role in February 2024, discussed with investors the plan to separate BHP's future growth from its declining growth businesses towards the end of the decade. Ultimately they decided it was not the right time because BHP still required the huge amounts of cash generated by the two Australian divisions to fund capital spending at its Escondida copper complex in Chile and its Jansen potash development in Canada. BHP's view was a spin-off of iron ore and coal would generate cash and franking credits that benefit Australian tax-payers, meaning there could be considerable Australian interest in any flotation, one of the people said. In addition, a freed-up copper and potash unit would have more scope to seek out fresh combinations, such as with Teck Resources ( opens new tab, the people said. The plan was complicated by BHP's failure to purchase Anglo, which would have bulked up the copper business and helped with cash flow, while the incentive to green its business has become less strong as many corporations across the world step back from environment goals. That suggests any move down that path may be further off. "The whole strategy is contingent on copper and potash being self-sustaining businesses, both of which have large capital requirements for at least the next five years," another of the people said.
Reuters
19-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Rio Tinto backs dual-listed structure, asks shareholders to reject Pallister's bid
March 19 (Reuters) - Mining major Rio Tinto ( opens new tab on Wednesday backed its dual-listed structure and asked shareholders to vote against London-based hedge fund Palliser Capital's resolution to review the firm's two listings in London and Sydney. The world's largest iron-ore miner said it had already conducted a robust and comprehensive review of the structure and had engaged with a number of stakeholders, including Palliser. It had previously recommended its London shareholders to vote against the resolution. here. "A dual-listed companies (DLC) structure unification is not required to provide the group with strategic flexibility," Rio Tinto said on Wednesday. A unification would be value destructive for the group and its shareholders, Rio flagged. Rio will have its London annual shareholder meeting on April 3 and its Australian meeting in Perth on May 1. Activist investor Palliser Capital and more than 100 other shareholders in December sought a shareholder resolution calling for Rio's dual-listed model to be reviewed and urged the miner to keep only its listing in Australia. Their reasoning is that such a move would bolster the company's share price. However, Australian shareholders are not keen for the move, as they say it would erode value. Rival BHP ( opens new tab ended a similar dual-listing structure in 2022 after pressure from activist investors and now has a primary listing in Australia.
Reuters
09-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
BHP earns right to take 75% stake in Cobre's Botswana projects
March 10 (Reuters) - Mining conglomerate BHP ( opens new tab has taken a right to acquire a 75% stake in Australia's Cobre's ( opens new tab Kitlanya projects in Botswana in exchange for $25 million in funding for exploration activities, the copper explorer said on Monday. The deal follows Cobre's selection in BHP's Xplor program in January last year in which the smaller rival received $500,000 to accelerate exploration plans in its Kalahari copper projects in the African nation. The agreement sees at least $5 million of committed funding to be paid to Cobre within two years of its commencement date, with a planned budget of $7 million for exploration expenditure starting next month. "The partnership with BHP will provide us with the funding and support necessary to implement a technology-driven work programme designed to discover the Tier 1 deposits we believe may be hosted in our Kitlanya East and West projects," Cobre Chief Executive Adam Woolridge said. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.
Reuters
18-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Anglo American to sell nickel business for up to $500 million
Feb 18 (Reuters) - Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab said on Tuesday it will sell its nickel business to a unit of Hong Kong-listed MMG Ltd ( opens new tab for up to $500 million, as part of a broader restructuring aimed at refocusing its operations on copper and iron ore mining. The deal comprises an upfront cash consideration of $350 million at completion, the potential for up to $100 million in a price-linked earnout and a contingent cash consideration of $50 million linked to an investment decision for development projects related to the nickel business, Anglo American said. In September, Anglo American said it had hired financial advisers to sell two nickel mines in Brazil. The assets together produce about 38,000 tons of nickel per year. London-listed Anglo American in May rebuffed a $49 billion hostile bid from the world's biggest miner BHP ( opens new tab, which was focused on Anglo's copper assets.
