Archive | BHP Billiton

BHP is in talks with Nutrien on giant potash mine – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 26, 2021)

May 26, 2021 in BHP Billiton, International Media Resource Articles, Potash/Phosphate, Saskatchewan Mining

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

BHP Group is in talks with Nutrien Ltd. about a potential partnership in its massive Canadian potash venture as the world’s biggest mining company moves closer to a final decision on the project.

The two companies are discussing multiple options, including Nutrien becoming the operator and selling the potash through its existing channels, or the Canadian company taking a stake in the Jansen mine, according to people familiar with the matter.

There is no guarantee the talks will lead to a deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. Continue Reading →

Reformed iron ore miners tipped to pay $65b dividend – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – May 12, 2021)

May 11, 2021 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, BHP Billiton, International Media Resource Articles, Iron Ore, Rio Tinto

https://www.afr.com/

Rio Tinto and BHP are tipped to pass 95 per cent of the iron ore boom back to shareholders through dividends, as Anglo American and Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong became the lastest multinationals to flirt with the idea of building a new iron ore province in Australia’s mid-west.

Iron ore prices have surged 20 per cent above the 2011 record over the past fortnight and are dragging Australia’s biggest exporter, Rio, into a net cash position just 13 years after it was crippled with debt on the back of the disastrous $US38 billion Alcan acquisition.

Shareholder returns from Rio, BHP and Fortescue will be far more generous than in 2011, when the three miners had big plans to spend on growth and were carrying much bigger debt loads. Continue Reading →

Analyst confident massive Sask. [BHP] potash mine will be approved as deadline approaches – by David Shield (CBC News Saskatoon – April 28, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Potash/Phosphate, Saskatchewan Mining

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/

While a final decision has not been given on a proposed large potash mine project in Saskatchewan, one financial analyst says he is quite confident it will be approved in the next few months.

Originally announced in 2010, BHP’s Jansen mine was once hailed as the largest potash project in the world. The site is located about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon.

Low potash prices meant the company never gave the mine final approval. While production and service shafts have been dug, and are almost fully completed, BHP has yet to produce any mineral from the site. Continue Reading →

PDAC: Think big, exploration opportunity is huge, says BHP’s Laura Tyler – by Carl A. Williams (Northern Miner – March 11, 2021)

March 12, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Nickel

Global mining news

“From where I sit, the opportunity in front of us is huge,” BHP’s (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) chief technical officer Laura Tyler told the PDAC’s virtual convention.

“I see great prosperity as we collaborate to discover the commodities of the future … faster, more efficiently, and more sustainably than ever before.”

Speaking from Adelaide in Australia, Tyler noted that the last year had been one of “challenge and opportunity for us all.” Continue Reading →

BHP moves exploration team to Toronto to grow copper, nickel pipeline – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 11, 2021)

March 11, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Nickel

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) is moving its exploration headquarters to Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, as it looks to growth its pipeline of “green metals” projects, particularly copper and nickel.

The move, announced by chief technical officer Laura Tyler, follows the world’s largest miner’s decision to partner with Midland Exploration (TSX-V: MD) in August last year to explore for nickel in northern Quebec.

Both copper and nickel have taken the centre stage in the “green revolution”, as they are vital metals needed for EVs, battery storage, charging stations and related grid infrastructure. Continue Reading →

BHP moves nickel and copper HQ to Toronto as Canada emerges as new clean-tech mining hotspot – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 10, 2021)

March 10, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, BHP Billiton, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Nickel

https://financialpost.com/

Both metals expected to see increased future demand due to electric vehicle industry growth

Australia’s BHP Group Ltd. is moving its exploration headquarters for nickel and copper — two metals expected to see increased future demand because of electric vehicle industry growth — to Toronto.

The company’s announcement Wednesday comes after a BHP subsidiary Rio Algom Ltd. struck a partnership in August with Canadian junior Midland Exploration Inc. to fund nickel exploration in northern Quebec.

The company has also been exploring for copper in Canada, on and off for years, Laura Tyler, BHP’s chief technical officer, told the Financial Post. But as climate change alters global commodity consumption patterns, she said nickel and copper demand are set to surge, leading the company to reevaluate where to put its people and resources. Continue Reading →

Iron Ore’s Rally Shields BHP From Pain of China Trade Dispute – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal – February 16, 2021)

February 17, 2021 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, BHP Billiton, International Media Resource Articles, Iron Ore

https://www.wsj.com/

SYDNEY—As ships with its coal remain stranded at sea because of a diplomatic dispute between Australia and China, BHP Group Ltd. showed another side of the trade relationship with its best underlying profit in seven years as it rode a rally in iron-ore prices.

BHP reported a $6.04 billion profit before exceptional items for the six months through December, up 16% compared with a year ago, as China’s big bet on infrastructure spending to drive its economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic stoked demand for iron ore.

The company also declared a record half-year dividend of $1.01 a share. Prices of iron ore, used to make steel, recently surged to a nine-year high of $176.90 a metric ton. Continue Reading →

BHP’s outlook, record dividend fuel supercycle talk – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 16, 2021)

February 16, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline, Iron Ore

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) reinforced talks of a new supercycle on Tuesday by rewarding investors with a record $5.1 billion first-half dividend and forecasting a “very constructive” outlook for the commodities market fundamentals, as the global economy begins to rebound from covid-19.

The world’s largest miner said first-half profit jumped by 16%, hitting a seven-year high, as demand from top metals consumer China helped boosting iron ore prices by 70% in 2020, to a recent nine-year high of $176.90 a tonne.

That is well above the cost of roughly $10 to $20 a tonne most global miners spend in extracting the steel-making commodity, according to WSJ.com estimations. Continue Reading →

Native Americans seek to stop Rio Tinto, BHP copper mine plan – by Nick Toscano (Sydney Morning Herald – January 13, 2021)

January 15, 2021 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, BHP Billiton, Copper, International Media Resource Articles, Mining Conflict and Opposition, Rio Tinto, United States Mining

https://www.smh.com.au/

Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP are facing fresh opposition from Native American groups over a plan to build an enormous copper mine in Arizona in the United States.

Apache Stronghold, a non-profit group, has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Phoenix to stop the US government from transferring a 980-hectare parcel of land at Oak Flat, Arizona, to the mining giants’ joint venture, Resolution Copper.

Resolution, which is 55 per cent owned by Rio Tinto and 45 per cent owned by rival BHP, says its proposed copper mine has the potential to supply nearly 25 per cent of US copper demand for 40 years. Continue Reading →

SolGold boss wants to end the brawl with BHP and Newcrest – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – January 6, 2021)

January 7, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Copper, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Latin America Mining

https://www.afr.com/

SolGold managing director Nicholas Mather wants to repair his fractured relationship with BHP and Newcrest Mining after an acrimonious year that culminated in a massive protest vote against his re-election to the board of the high-profile copper explorer.

BHP and Newcrest both own more than 13 per cent of SolGold and last year made public their respective concerns about Mr Mather’s approach to governance and funding of the Brisbane-based company, which has discovered several prospective copper and gold targets in Ecuador.

BHP and Newcrest were not the only SolGold shareholders with concerns about Mr Mather, with 44.7 per cent of the company’s register voting against his re-election to the SolGold board shortly before Christmas. Continue Reading →

The 100-Day War: An oral history of BHP’s hostile takeover bid of PotashCorp – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – November 13, 2020)

November 16, 2020 in BHP Billiton, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Potash/Phosphate, Saskatchewan Mining

https://thestarphoenix.com/

Ten years after it happened, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix spoke with key players in what was at the time the biggest business story in the world.

It was ten years ago that BHP Billiton tried to buy Saskatchewan’s most iconic company. The Anglo-Australian mining giant’s hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. in the late summer and fall of 2010 was the biggest business story in the world at the time.

Tens of billions of dollars were at stake, not to mention a former Crown corporation at the heart of an industry that has long been considered the backbone of Saskatchewan’s identity, history and economy.

PotashCorp owned five of the nine potash mines then operating in the province, and employed thousands of people. It was also a global success, with operations around the world. And it was not for sale. Continue Reading →

UK court blocks lawsuit against BHP over Brazil dam burst – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 9, 2020)

November 10, 2020 in BHP Billiton, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Iron Ore, Latin America Mining, Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution, Tailing Dams and Abandoned Mines, Vale

https://www.mining.com/

The High Court of Manchester, northwestern England, blocked on Monday a £5 billion ($6.6bn) lawsuit against BHP over a devastating dam collapse at an iron ore mine in Brazil in 2015, which killed 19 people and became the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history.

The suit, filed last year by 235,000 Brazilian people and groups including indigenous tribes and the Catholic Church, claims the world’s no. 1 miner was “woefully negligent” in the run-up to the Samarco dam failure.

The claimants were seeking compensation for physical and psychological injury, property damage, moving costs, loss of earnings, loss of water supply and lost fishing income. Continue Reading →

BHP takes copper pledge – by Esmaire Iannucci (MiningWeekly.com – November 2, 2020)

November 2, 2020 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, BHP Billiton, Copper, International Media Resource Articles, Latin America Mining

https://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major BHP has committed its copper operations in Chile and Australia to the Copper Mark voluntary programme, designed to hold the copper industry accountable to responsible practices in critical areas including environment, community, human rights and governance issues.

The Copper Mark is a credible assurance framework to demonstrate the copper industry’s responsible production practices and contribution to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.

“We know that our long-term sustainability credentials are important to our customers and increasingly important to end consumers of copper products, such as buyers of electric vehicles and copper intensive consumer durables,” says BHP group sales and marketing officer Michiel Hovers. Continue Reading →

BHP thinks big on nickel after Musk dangles supply contract – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – October 13, 2020)

October 14, 2020 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, BHP Billiton, Nickel

https://www.afr.com/

BHP fanned speculation that it is closing in on an off-take deal with Elon Musk’s Tesla after moving to boost nickel production while reducing carbon emissions in Western Australia.

Eddy Haegel, the boss of BHP’s reborn Nickel West business, said it would continue to acquire prospective nickel tenements in WA after investing in new and existing mines and boosting processing capacity.

Nickel West has also started commissioning work at its delayed nickel sulphate plant at Kwinana, south of Perth, as it doubles up on the battery metal. Continue Reading →

Resurgent WA nickel attracting battery and car manufacturers (Australian Mining – October 13, 2020)

October 13, 2020 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, BHP Billiton, International Media Resource Articles, Nickel

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Battery manufacturers and automakers are increasingly looking to invest in nickel projects to secure supply and the resurgent West Australian sector stands to benefit, according to Mincor Resources managing director David Southam.

Talks between miner BHP and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla over a potential nickel deal were last week reported by Bloomberg.

Both parties declined to comment but it hasn’t stopped the speculation being a key point of discussion at the annual Diggers and Dealers mining conference in Kalgoorlie. Continue Reading →