Copper Output Drops 19% on Chile Disruptions, Missing Estimates
BHP sits 56% above its 52-week low of $52.18.
Summary
BHP produced 400.7K tons of copper in the September quarter, down 19% year-on-year and short of the 423.6K-ton consensus, after severe weather and a fatal accident forced stoppages at Escondida in Chile plus a conveyor failure at Carrapateena. Shares fell 1.7% on the print. The miss is cushioned by a 53% year-on-year jump in realized copper prices to $7.01/lb, and iron ore held up at 66.5M tons, up 4%, though realized iron ore prices fell 9% to $76.27/ton. Management kept full-year production and unit cost guidance unchanged across all operations and raised the Olympic Dam copper resource estimate by 2M tons, roughly nine years of output at current rates. Jansen potash remains on track for first ore despite prior cost and time overruns. BHP also approved US$0.8bn (100% basis) pre-commitment funding for the Escondida New Concentrator and signed a 36-month collective agreement with Escondida's Union No. 2 supervisors from 14 October 2026. The unchanged guidance is the key offset — the operational miss looks contained rather than a reset of the year.
Updated with an SEC 6-K filing · What changed
Updates
· SEC 6-K — BHP approved US$0.8bn (100% basis) pre-commitment funding for the Escondida New Concentrator and signed a 36-month collective agreement with Escondida's Union No. 2 supervisors from 14 October 2026.
At the time of this announcement, BHP was trading at $81.62 on NYSE in the Industrial Applications And Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $214.5B. The 52-week trading range was $52.18 to $98.71. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Seeking Alpha.