BHP iron ore output hits new record but copper production tanks

The world's number one mining company BHP  (NYSE:BHP) reported record full-year production at its Western Australia iron ore division on Tuesday.

The Melbourne-based giant said thanks to the continued ramp up of additional capacity at its Jimblebar operations in Western Australia production at its iron ore unit rose 4% year-on-year to 231m tonnes for the 12 months to end-June.

BHP expects iron ore production for its current financial year to end June 2018 to rise 3–5% to between 239–243m tonnes on an attributable basis and to 275–280m tonnes in total.

Coking coal production declined 6% to 40m tonnes for the year  with two of the company's four Queensland mines  achieving record production which helped to offset the impact of cyclone Debbie in March. For its 2018 financial year BHP expects to produce 44–46m tonnes of met coal, an increase of 10–15%.

Copper production for 2016/2017 fell 16% to 1.326m tonnes due to a power outage at its Australian Olympic Dam operations in September-October last year and strike action at Escondida earlier this year which saw output at the giant mine down by more than a fifth to 772kt.

BHP expects full year copper output for 2018 to recover by 25–35% overall as Escondida expansion plans push  production at the mine to between 1.13m–1.23m tonnes for the company's 2018 financial year.

Copper production at the world's largest copper mine will be boosted by the commissioning of a new water project  and ramp-up of the Los Colorados Extension project during the September 2017 quarter to enable utilization of Escondida’s three concentrators.

ADRs of BHP trading in New York were down 0.6% after hours on Tuesday following a similar decline during regular trading. BHP stock is worth a shade under $100 billion.

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