The World's Largest Miner Resists Copper's Siren Song

Stjepan KalinicWed, March 4, 2026 at 6:31 AM UTC

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BHP Group Limited has reaffirmed its business model of diversification. The largest global miner is resisting the allure to become a copper-focused enterprise, despite its dominant position.

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference, CEO Mike Henry was unequivocal about the plan going forward.

"BHP is, intentionally, a diversified miner – rather than a pure play. And although we are the world's largest copper miner, we have exciting, high-value copper growth ahead of us; we don't aspire to be a copper pure play," Henry said.

Copper now accounts for more than half of BHP's underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). It is an achievement owing to both higher prices and a 30% increase in production over recent years.

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The company has lifted copper production guidance by a cumulative 150,000 tons over the next two years. It is targeting around 2.5 million tons of copper equivalent output annually by 2035, including by-products.

That plan implies a compound annual growth rate of 3-4% in copper-equivalent production between fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2035.

South American Growth

The heavy lifting will come from the Vicuña joint venture in Argentina with Lundin. Recent drilling has lifted the district's contained copper resource to 47 million tons, adding 9 million tons in the latest update. A staged development approach could see a final investment decision on Stage 1 as early as the end of this year.

Once fully ramped up across three stages, Vicuña has the potential to rank among the world's top five copper and gold producing assets, with average annual output of about 500,000 tons of copper and 800,000 ounces of gold over its first decade.

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BHP expects to generate about $60 billion in attributable free cash flow over the next five years at spot prices, after funding growth capital expenditure (capex). Even under a prolonged low-price scenario based on the weakest prices of the past three years, it estimates roughly $10 billion in additional free cash flow over that period. The company has also unlocked more than $6 billion in cash through infrastructure and streaming transactions and sees scope to unlock up to $10 billion in total.

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Delivering Value

Still, capital discipline remains central to the story. Under its allocation framework, BHP commits to a minimum 50% payout ratio as a base dividend, with remaining capital competing between growth and additional shareholder returns.

"We have returned over US$110 billion to shareholders via dividends, share buy-backs, and demergers over the past decade. This represents above 60% of today's market capitalization," Henry noted.

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Copper's strategic importance is rising as electrification, renewable energy, electric vehicles, and grid expansion drive demand. Industry forecasts widely point to significant supply deficits emerging in the 2030s as existing mines deplete and new projects struggle to keep pace.

For BHP, that does mean an aggressive copper expansion, but also staying within a diversified model to deliver stability, resilient cash-flow, and value across commodity cycles.

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