Diversified miner BHP expects its copper production for the full-year to June 30 to be in the upper half of the 1.9-million- to two-million-tonne guidance, with strong production at the Escondida mine, in Chile, and the Antamina mine, in Peru, offsetting lower output at the Pampa Norte (Spence) mine, in Chile.

The group is also maintaining its full-year production guidance for iron-ore, at between 258-million and 269-million tonnes. The Samarco iron-ore mine, in Brazil, is expected to meet the top end of its full-year guidance of between seven-million and 7.5-million tonnes.

Reporting on the group's results for the nine months to March 31, outgoing CEO Mike Henry says BHP delivered a strong performance over the nine-month period, including record material mined and concentrator throughput at Escondida and record production at its Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) operations.

"In copper, strong performance at Escondida and Antamina supports our expectation of delivering production in the upper half of full-year copper guidance. We continue to make steady progress across our copper growth programme, consistent with our focus on long-life, high-quality copper supply and disciplined capital allocation," he comments.

He points out that the group's centralised procurement capability and low-cost operations have positioned it well in the face of industry wide pressure on the cost of energy and consumables as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.

COPPER
BHP's copper production for the nine months to March 31 decreased by 3% year-on-year to 1.46-million tonnes, with Escondida's production down 3% year-on-year to 949 000 t, mainly as a result of planned lower concentrator feed grade of 0.91%. 

This was partially offset by a strong operational performance, with record material mined and record concentrator throughput, as well as improved recoveries driven by operational enhancements, including the introduction of new reagents.

Cathode production increased, supported by higher sulphide leach production and additional leach pad irrigation.

At Antamina, copper production increased by 19% year-on-year to 116 000 t as a result of planned higher feed grades and improved operational performance. 

Production at Pampa Norte (Spence) decreased by 19% year-on-year owing to challenges with managing the ore complexity, variation and declining grades at both the concentrator and the cathode plant.

At the cathode plant, production decreased as a result of the planned decline in stacked feed grade as BHP progresses deeper into the hypogene mineral area of the orebody.

"We continue to test the implementation of BHP’s Simple Approach to Leaching 2 (SaL2) technology at the sulphide leach pad to enable processing of hypogene ores and utilise latent capacity in the cathode infrastructure," BHP points out.

At the concentrator, ongoing challenges associated with managing ore complexity and variability have reduced recoveries, which requires additional ore blending and flotation time to address these impacts. 

Copper South Australia achieved a 3% year-on-year increase in output to 231 000 t for the nine months.

IRON-ORE
BHP's iron-ore production increased by 2% year-on-year to 197-million tonnes for the nine months to March 31, with the WAIO operations having achieved record production of 216-million tonnes on a 100% basis.

Production at Samarco also increased, by 37% year-on-year, owing to a stronger performance at the second concentrator following ramp up, as well as owing to higher feed grades and recoveries.

COAL
The BHP Mitsubishi Alliance steelmaking coal operations, in Australia, delivered higher production for the nine months to March 31, owing to a strong operational performance at the opencut mines, supported by the highest year-to-date stripping volumes in five years.

This was partially offset by lower yield driven by mine sequencing in response to significant wet weather, ongoing geotechnical challenges at Broadmeadow,and Saraji South being placed into care and maintenance. The planned longwall move at Broadmeadow commenced in February and was completed in early April.

BHP's production guidance the BMA operations for the full-year remains unchanged at between 18-million and 20-million tonnes (between 36-million and 40-million tonnes on a 100% basis), with production expected to be in the lower half of the range.