BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry has outlined a rapid expansion of the company’s copper portfolio, building momentum for the commodity, which now accounts for more than half of the mining giant’s earnings.
Speaking at the BMO Global Metals, Mining and Critical Minerals Conference, Henry highlighted the company’s shift toward future-facing metals and the rapid advancement of the Vicuña joint venture in Argentina.
“Just over half of our earnings for the half 2026 came from our copper business,” Henry said. “That’s up 30 percentage points over the past three years and is a function of not only the run-up in copper price, but also the 30 per cent growth in production we’ve achieved in the past several years.”
BHP is targeting 2.5 million tonnes (Mt) of copper-equivalent production per year by 2035, driven primarily by the Vicuña project, in partnership with Lundin Mining. Henry confirmed that the joint venture recently submitted an application to Argentina’s Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) scheme, potentially securing 40 years of fiscal stability for the development.
“We could make a final investment decision on Stage 1 as early as the end of this calendar year,” Henry said.
Stage 1 is expected to deliver its first production in 2030, averaging more than 300,000 tonnes per annum of copper equivalent.
Recent drilling at the Vicuña district has added 9Mt of contained copper to the resource. Henry believes the project could become a top-five global producer of copper and gold once all three stages are fully developed.
While copper growth remains a priority, Henry said BHP’s iron ore operations continue to provide a resilient cash flow foundation, with Western Australia Iron Ore increasing its lead as the world’s lowest-cost major producer, successfully reducing costs in real terms post-COVID.
“Stability plus growth equals value,” Henry said.
