Prices of the metal have been soaring since April as Beijing injected state funds into its industrial sector to overcome the economic damage of Covid.
In an echo of Rio Tinto’s statement yesterday, BHP also said its Western Australia iron ore mines had been pushing out record production and its Escondida copper mine in Chile had been performing strongly, leading to a tweak upwards in the lower end of its forecasts.
Those updates outweighed a hefty $1.25 billion downgrade to its valuation of its coal assets — due to be sold — after China banned Australian coal exports. Beijing imposed the ban after Australia questioned China’s actions at the start of the global Covid pandemic.
BHP shares rose 27p to 2138p.
BHP sees iron ore as a strong and steady cash generator to fund investments in minerals to be used in electric vehicles and green energy technologies in the future.
Copper and nickel are its primary targets. Copper is likely to have strong future demand for wiring in electic-powered machinery and nickel is used in batteries.
BHP has the biggest copper mine in Escondida, Chile as well as the huge Olympic Dam in Australia.
It has nickel deposits in the Nickel West mine, also in Australia and is looking for more opportunities.
