BHP CFO says new investors buying in on copper exposure, AI demand
SYDNEY - BHP CFO Vandita Pant said on Wednesday that a new and broader set of investors were buying into the company as AI demand makes its exposure to copper more valuable.
Shares in BHP, the world's biggest listed miner and top copper producer, rose to a record on March 2 and then fell amid a broad sector selloff as the war in Iran began, though they have since pared some of the losses.
"What we have seen since half results is that there is a growing interest and what we see in our register is more international generalist investors," she told the Macquarie Australia Conference in Sydney.
BHP reported a stronger-than-expected half-year underlying profit driven by copper, which for the first time surpassed iron-ore in the company's earnings, as prices for the red metal surged on AI-fuelled demand.
"They like electrification like AI, but they don't want to pick winners. They are going upstream and saying where's the bottleneck? Copper is a bottleneck. Who do we invest in where the downside risk can be cut, but we still have exposure to this upside. And for them, BHP seems like a good choice."
Major fund managers are heralding a sustained rally in mining and metals as money floods into the sector at the fastest pace in years, driven by a build-out of AI infrastructure, rising defence spending and a shift away from expensive tech stocks, investors told Reuters last month.
Responding to a question on whether BHP would ever revise the commodities it focuses on from its core four of copper, iron ore, potash and coking coal, Pant said the portfolio was regularly reviewed and also mentioned its uranium output.
BHP is a major producer of uranium, which it mines as a byproduct at its Olympic Dam copper operations in South Australia.
"We continue to be quite a positive even on uranium," she said. "We have a lot of that in our Olympic Dam mine here in South Australia. So (we are) very comfortable with that position."
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