BHP Shares Hit Record High as Copper Earnings Surpass Iron Ore

BHP Group surged to a record high on the Australian Securities Exchange, hitting $67.72 per share, as a surge in copper prices reshaped the world’s largest listed miner’s financial results and eclipsed its traditional iron ore earnings for the first time. According to reporting from Yahoo Finance Australia and Stockhead, the company’s valuation milestones coincided with a robust full-year financial report that beat consensus expectations and delivered a four-year high dividend for shareholders.

For the financial year ended June 30, BHP posted an underlying attributable profit of $13.20 billion, comfortably beating the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $12.66 billion. That figure represents a 30% jump from the previous year. Net debt dropped to $8.69 billion by the end of June, sliding below the company’s own target range of $10 billion to $12 billion and outperforming the consensus estimate of $9.10 billion.

Building on those figures, the miner declared a final dividend of 99 cents per share, bringing the total full-year payout to $1.72 per share. Portfolio manager Andy Forster of Argo Investments welcomed the distribution, stating he loved the dividend and describing the overall result as solid with copper doing all the work.

Copper Surpasses Iron Ore as Earnings Driver

The defining shift in the latest results is the dominance of the copper division. Operating earnings for copper, which includes by-products like gold and uranium, reached $18.19 billion. That figure surpassed the flagship Western Australia Iron Ore operations, which generated $14.67 billion following a modest 2% year-on-year increase that met analyst forecasts.

Copper has traded above $14,000 per metric ton this year, fueled by heavy demand from artificial intelligence data-centre buildouts and the global clean-energy transition. BHP projects that global demand for the metal will climb from 34 million metric tons today to more than 50 million metric tons by 2050.

CEO Brandon Craig, who took the helm last month, told reporters that the company’s project pipeline could expand copper output by up to 40% by 2035, even if near-term production dips slightly. Craig emphasized that copper, iron, steelmaking coal, and potash remain foundational to global development, driving the company to bring those commodities to market as quickly as possible.

Capital Allocation and Project Pipeline Decisions

Looking ahead, capital expenditure is slated to rise by more than $1 billion next year. However, final investment decisions on major copper projects remain pending, serving as a key watch item for investors tracking near-term free-cash-flow conversion. Craig noted that organic development remains significantly cheaper than acquisition, pointing out that it is roughly five times more expensive to buy copper assets than to build them.

Despite that stance on acquisitions, BHP continues to hold exploratory talks with Canadian uranium miner NexGen Energy regarding its Rook I uranium project in Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, management dismissed reports that it might review its Queensland metallurgical coal assets for a potential sale, insisting those mines remain an integral part of the portfolio.

Operational risks remain on the radar, notably industrial action at Port Hedland, BHP’s iron ore export hub in Western Australia. Craig told reporters that the company does not expect a material negative impact on operations while wage negotiations continue. With balance sheet flexibility secured by falling debt and surging commodity prices, BHP moves into the new fiscal year positioned to accelerate its pivot toward the electrification metals powering global infrastructure.