BHP’s 140-year journey from a remote Australian mine to global resources leadership highlights its enduring impact on innovation, resources and economic growth worldwide.
On August 19, BHP chief executive Mike Henry joined his Rio Tinto counterparts at the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
At the centre of the discussion was the long-delayed Resolution Copper joint venture project in Arizona, one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the US.
Resolution has been entangled in legal and regulatory hurdles for two decades. After the meeting, Henry expressed optimism that the project could finally move forward.
In a LinkedIn post, he praised the US Government’s renewed support for mining, particularly in copper and potash, two commodities central to BHP’s strategy.
“Resolution Copper… will create thousands of high-value local jobs in Arizona and billions in economic activity across America,” he wrote. “The world needs more mining to build the future.”
Copper, Henry said, is indispensable, powering smartphones, medical equipment, vehicles, data centres and power grids. It is vital to economic growth this century.
The origins of BHP
BHP’s story began in 1883 when Charles Rasp, a boundary rider on a remote sheep station in New South Wales, discovered silver and lead at Broken Hill.
He secured a mining lease – at the time, the largest of its kind in Australia – and in 1885 helped float the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd on the Melbourne Stock Exchange.
Rasp could scarcely have imagined that in 2025, the company he founded 140 years earlier would be represented in the White House.
Most of the original directors were wool traders rather than miners. Recognising their limitations, they sought the best engineers from abroad. Among the early recruits was Dutch-born engineer Guillaume Delprat, who arrived in 1898. Within a year he became general manager and played a central role in developing the Potter–Delprat flotation process, a breakthrough that enabled the profitable recovery of zinc from ore.
Innovation and global reach
From the opening of Newcastle Steelworks in 1915 to contributions during World War II to pioneering research in the 1950s, BHP became synonymous with technical excellence.
The discovery of rich Pilbara iron ore deposits in the 1960s set the stage for Australia’s emergence as a global resources powerhouse.
By the 1980s, BHP was looking outward. The 1984 acquisition of Utah International expanded its footprint across the US, Brazil, Canada and Chile, and made it a global coal exporter. Television advertisements of the era cemented its image as ‘the Big Australian’.
BHP hurtled towards the new millennium. Its controlling interest in the Escondida mine in Chile made the company one of the world’s leading copper miners and the establishment of the EKATI diamond mine in Canada expanded its minerals suite.
In 2001, it merged with Anglo-Dutch metals and minerals company Billiton to become BHP–Billiton.
At the same time, BHP, along with the rest of the mining industry, experienced phenomenal growth fuelled by the China resources boom. By the end of 2014, BHP had shipped one billion tonnes of iron ore to China.
Throughout its history, BHP has embraced innovation, whether it be flotation processes, automation, or AI-era supply chains.
“From the Potter–Delprat flotation process invented in Broken Hill over a century ago, to the drone technology, driverless trucks and automated drills of today, our industry has never shied away from the challenges or opportunities that pave the way for innovation,” Henry said.
From its stock market float in 1885 to the Oval Office in 2025, BHP’s 140-year journey underlines the enduring global relevance of Australian mining and the company’s remarkable contribution to that legacy.
This article appeared in the Spring edition of Mining Magazine.
