BHP
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BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As of 2024, BHP was the world’s largest mining company by market capitalisation<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the world’s third-largest by revenue.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The company specializes in mining and selling iron ore, copper and coal.<ref name="ar"/>
BHP Billiton was formed in June 2001 through the merger of the Australian Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) and the Anglo–Dutch Billiton plc, trading on both the Australian Securities Exchange and London Stock Exchange as a dual-listed company.
In 2015, some BHP Billiton assets were demerged and rebranded as South32, while a scaled-down BHP Billiton became BHP. In 2018, BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton plc became BHP Group Limited and BHP Group plc, respectively. In January 2022, BHP relinquished its London Stock Exchange listing, becoming a solely Australian Securities Exchange-listed company. As of 2022, BHP is the largest company in Australia,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the largest mining company in the world, both as measured by market capitalization.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2023, the company's position in the Forbes Global 2000 was 90th.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
BillitonEdit
Billiton Maatschappij was founded 29 September 1860, when its articles of association were approved by a meeting of shareholders in the Groot Keizershof hotel in The Hague, Netherlands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Two months later, the company acquired mineral rights to the Billiton (Belitung) and Bangka Islands in the Netherlands Indies archipelago off the eastern coast of Sumatra.<ref name="history"/><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Billiton's initial ventures included tin and lead smelting in the Netherlands, followed in the 1940s by bauxite mining in Indonesia and Suriname.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1970, Shell acquired Billiton.<ref name="history"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Billiton opened a tin smelting and refining plant in Phuket, Thailand, named Thaisarco (for Thailand Smelting And Refining Company, Limited).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1994, South Africa's Gencor acquired the mining division of Billiton excluding the downstream metal division.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Billiton was divested from Gencor in 1997,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was amalgamated with Gold Fields in 1998.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1997, Billiton plc became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and in 2001 Billiton plc merged with the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) to form BHP Billiton.<ref name="merger">Template:Cite news</ref>
Broken Hill Proprietary CompanyEdit
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The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP), also known by the nickname "the Big Australian",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was incorporated on 13 August 1885, operating the silver and lead mine at Broken Hill, in western New South Wales, Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Broken Hill group floated on 10 August 1885.<ref name="jay">Jay, Christopher. (1999) A Future More Prosperous: The History of Newcastle Steelworks 1912–1999, The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, Newcastle. p. 30.</ref> The first consignment of Broken Hill ore (48 tons, 5 cwt, 3grs) was smelted at the Intercolonial Smelting and Refining Company's works at Spotswood, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne.<ref name="jay"/> Historian Christopher Jay notes:
The resulting 35,605 ounces of silver raised a lot of interest when exhibited at the City of Melbourne Bank in Collins Street. Some sceptics asserted the promoters were merely using silver from somewhere else, to ramp up the shares.... Another shareholder, the dominating W. R. Wilson had had to lend William Jamieson, General Manager, a new suit so he could take the first prospectus, printed at Silverton near Broken Hill on 20 June 1885, to Adelaide to start the float process.<ref name="jay"/>
The geographic Broken Hill, for which the town was named, was discovered and named by Captain Charles Sturt, stirring great interest among prospectors. Nothing of note was discovered until 5 November 1883, when Charles Rasp, boundary rider for the surrounding Mount Gipps Station, pegged out a 40-acre claim with contractors David James and James Poole.<ref>Coulls, A. "Rasp, Charles (1846 - 1907)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6. Melbourne University Press, 1976. p. 9.</ref>
Together with a half-dozen backers, including station manager George McCulloch (a young cousin of Victorian Premier Sir James McCulloch),<ref>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> Rasp formed the Broken Hill Company staking out the entire Hill. As costs mounted during the ensuing months of fruitless search, three of the original seven (now remembered as the Syndicate of Seven) sold their shares, so that, on the eve of the company's great success, there were nine shareholders, including Rasp, McCulloch, Philip Charly (aka Charley), David James, James Poole (five of the original syndicate of seven, which had previously included George Urquhart and G.A.M. Lind), Bowes Kelly, W. R. Wilson, and William Jamieson (who had bought shares from several of the founders).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
John Darling, Jr. became a director of the company in 1892 and was chairman of directors from 1907 to 1914.<ref>Template:Australian Dictionary of Biography</ref>
Strongly encouraged by the New South Wales Minister for Public Works, Arthur Hill Griffith,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in 1915, the company ventured into steel manufacturing, with its operations based primarily at the Newcastle Steelworks. The decision to move from mining ore at Broken Hill to opening a steelworks at Newcastle was due to the technical limitations in recovering value from mining the lower-lying sulphide ores.<ref>Jay, Christopher. (1999) A Future More Prosperous: The History of Newcastle Steelworks 1912–1999, The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, Newcastle. p. 34.</ref> The discovery of Iron Knob and Iron Monarch near the western shore of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, combined with the refinement, by BHP metallurgists A. D. Carmichael and Leslie Bradford, of the froth flotation technique for separating zinc sulphides from the accompanying gangue and subsequent conversion (Carmichael–Bradford process) to oxides of the metal, allowed BHP to economically extract valuable metals from the heaps of tailings up to Template:Convert high at the mine site.<ref>Jay, Christopher. (1999) A Future More Prosperous: The History of Newcastle Steelworks 1912–1999, The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, Newcastle. pp. 42–43.</ref> In 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy targeted the BHP steelworks<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> during the largely unsuccessful shelling of Newcastle.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Newcastle operations were closed in 1999,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a 70-ton commemorative sculpture, The Muster Point, was installed on Industrial Drive, in the suburb of Mayfield, New South Wales. The long products side of the steel business was spun off to form OneSteel in 2000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the 1950s, BHP began petroleum exploration, which became an increasing focus following oil and natural gas discoveries in Bass Strait in the 1960s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BHP began to diversify into a variety of mining projects overseas. Those included the Ok Tedi copper mine in Papua New Guinea, where the company was successfully sued by the indigenous inhabitants because of the environmental degradation caused by mining operations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> BHP had better success with the giant Escondida copper mine in Chile, of which it owns 57.5%, and at the Ekati Diamond Mine in northern Canada, which BHP contracted for in 1996,<ref name="Natural Resources Canada">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> began mining in 1998,<ref name="Natural Resources Canada"/> and sold its 80% stake in to Dominion Diamond Corporation in 2013 as production declined.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BHP BillitonEdit
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In 2001, BHP merged with the Billiton mining company to form BHP Billiton.<ref name=":0"/> In 2002, flat steel products were demerged to form the publicly traded company BHP Steel which, in 2003, became BlueScope.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In March 2005, BHP Billiton announced a US$7.3 billion agreed bid for WMC Resources, owners of the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine in South Australia, nickel operations in Western Australia and Queensland, and a Queensland fertiliser plant.<ref name=":1"/> The takeover achieved 90 per cent acceptance on 17 June 2005, and 100 per cent ownership was announced on 2 August 2005, achieved through compulsory acquisition of the remaining 10 per cent of the shares.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 8 November 2007, BHP Billiton announced it was seeking to purchase rival mining group Rio Tinto in an all-share deal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The initial offer of 3.4 shares of BHP Billiton stock for each share of Rio Tinto was rejected by the board of Rio Tinto for "significantly undervaluing" the company.<ref name=":1"/> It was unknown at the time whether BHP Billiton would attempt to purchase Rio Tinto through some form of hostile takeover.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> A formal hostile bid of 3.4 BHP Billiton shares for each Rio Tinto share was announced on 6 February 2008;<ref name="FTBHPBRiotakeover2">Template:Cite news</ref> The bid was withdrawn 25 November 2008 due to global recession.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 14 May 2008, BHP Billiton shares rose to a record high of A$48.90 following speculation that Chinese mining firm Chinalco was considering purchasing a large stake.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As global nickel prices fell, on 25 November 2008, Billiton announced that it would drop its A$66 billion takeover of rival Rio Tinto Group, stating that the "risks to shareholder value" would "increase" to "an unacceptable level" due to the 2008 financial crisis.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
On 21 January 2009, BHP Billiton then announced that Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine in Western Australia would cease operations, ending shipments of ore from Ravensthorpe to the Yabulu nickel plant in Queensland Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yabulu refinery was subsequently sold to Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer, becoming the Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery. Pinto Valley mine in the United States was also closed. Mine closures and general scaling back during the 2008 financial crisis accounted for 6,000 employee lay offs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As the nickel market became saturated by both spiraling economics and cheaper extraction methods; on 9 December 2009, BHP Billiton sold its Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine, which had cost A$2.4 billion to build, to Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals for US$340 million. First Quantum, a Canadian company, was one of three bidders for the mine, tendering the lowest offer, and returned the mine to production in 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ravensthorpe cost BHP US$3.6 billion in write-downs when it was shut in January 2009 after less than a year of production.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In January 2010, following the BHP Billiton purchase of Athabasca Potash for US$320m, The Economist reported that, by 2020, BHP Billiton could produce approximately 15 per cent of the world demand for potash.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In August 2010, BHP Billiton made a hostile takeover bid worth US$40 billion for PotashCorp. The bid came after BHP's first bid, made on 17 August, was rejected as being undervalued.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This acquisition marked a major strategic move by BHP outside hard commodities and commenced the diversification of its business away from resources with high exposure to carbon price risk, like coal, petroleum and iron ore. The takeover bid was opposed by the Government of Saskatchewan under Premier Brad Wall. On 3 November, Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement announced the preliminary rejection of the deal under the Investment Canada Act, giving BHP Billiton 30 days to refine their deal before a final decision was made;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> BHP withdrew its offer on 14 November 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Canada's decision to block the deal was generally viewed as surprising by the global investment community.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite book</ref>
On 22 February 2011, BHP Billiton announced that it had paid $4.75 billion in cash to Chesapeake Energy for its Fayetteville shale assets, which include Template:Cvt of mineral rights leases and Template:Convert of pipeline located in north central Arkansas. The wells on the mineral leases are currently producing about 415 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. BHP Billiton planned to spend $800 million to $1 billion a year over 10 years to develop the field and triple production.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 14 July 2011, BHP Billiton announced that it would acquire Petrohawk Energy of the United States for approximately $12.1 billion in cash, considerably expanding its shale natural gas resources<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in an offer of $US38.75 per share.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 22 August 2012, BHP Billiton announced that it was delaying its US$20 billion (£12 billion) Olympic Dam copper mine expansion project in South Australia to study less capital intensive options, deferring its dual harbour strategy at West Australian Iron Ore and slowing down its Potash growth option in Canada.<ref name="guard22812">Template:Cite news</ref> The company simultaneously announced a freeze on approving any major new expansion projects.<ref name="guard22812"/>
Days after announcing the Olympic Dam pull-out, BHP Billiton announced that it was selling its Yeelirrie Uranium Project to Canadian Cameco for a fee of around $430 million. The sale was part of a broader move to step away from resource expansion in Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 19 August 2014, BHP Billiton announced it would create an independent global metals and mining company based on a selection of its aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel, and silver assets.<ref name="bhpbilliton.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The newly formed entity, named South32, was subsequently demerged with listings on the Australian Securities Exchange the JSE and the London Stock Exchange.<ref name="bhpbilliton.com"/>
In 2015, BHP Billiton spun off a number of its subsidiaries<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in South Africa and Southern Africa to form a new company known as South32.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
BHP Billiton agreed to pay a fine of $25 million to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in 2015 in connection with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to its "hospitality program" at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. BHP Billiton invited 176 government and state-owned-enterprise officials to attend the Games on an all-expenses-paid package. While BHP Billiton claimed to have compliance processes in place to avoid conflicts of interest, the SEC found that BHP Billiton had invited officials from at least four countries where BHP Billiton had interests in influencing the officials' decisions (Congo, Guinea, Philippines and Burundi).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In August 2016, BHP Billiton recorded its worst annual loss in history, $6.4 billion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Towards the end of 2016 BHP Billiton indicated it would expand its petroleum business and make new investments in the sector.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In February 2017, BHP Billiton announced a $2.2 billion investment in the new BP platform in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> During the same year, as part of their plan to increase productivity at the Escondida mine in Chile,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which is the world's biggest copper mine, BHP Billiton attempted to get workers to accept a 4-year pay freeze, a 66% reduction in the end-of-conflict bonus offering, and increased shift flexibility. This resulted in a major workers' strike and forced the company to declare force majeure on two shipments, which drove copper prices up by 4%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In April 2017 activist hedge fund manager Elliott Advisors proposed a plan for BHP Billiton to spin off its American petroleum assets and significantly restructure the business, including the scrapping of its dual Sydney-London listing, suggesting shares be offered only in the United Kingdom, while leaving its headquarters and tax residences in Australia where shares would trade as depository instruments. At the time of the correspondence Elliott held about 4.1 per cent of the issued shares in London-listed BHP Billiton plc, worth $3.81 billion. Australia's government warned it would block moves to shift BHP Billiton's stock listing from Australia to the United Kingdom. Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison said the move would be contrary to the country's national interest and would breach government orders mandating a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. BHP Billiton dismissed the plan saying the costs and risks of Elliott's proposal outweighed any potential benefits.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
BHPEdit
In May 2017, with much of the former Billiton assets having been disposed of, BHP Billiton began to rebrand itself as BHP, at first in Australia and then globally. It replaced the slogan "The Big Australian" with "Think Big", with an advertising campaign rolling out in mid May 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Work on the change began in late 2015 according to BHP's chief external affairs officer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In August 2017, BHP announced that it would sell off its US shale oil and gas business.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2018, the company agreed to sell its shale assets to BP for $10.5 billion.<ref>Reed, Stanley "BP Makes 10.5 Billion Shale Deal; Its Biggest Since Deepwater Horizons", Reuters via The New York Times, 27 July 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.</ref> BHP indicated its intention to return funds to investors.<ref>Husseini, Talal "BP to spend $10.5bn in BHP US shale oil and gas assets acquisition", Offshore Technology, 27 July 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.</ref> On 29 September 2018, BHP completed the sale of its Fayetteville Onshore US gas assets to a wholly owned subsidiary of Merit Energy Company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In August 2021, BHP announced plans to exit the oil and gas industry by merging its hydrocarbon business with Woodside Energy, Australia's largest independent gas producer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It also announced its intention to delist from the London Stock Exchange and consolidate on the Australian Securities Exchange.<ref>BHP: Mining giant to leave London's FTSE 100 for Sydney BBC News 17 August 2021</ref> This occurred in January 2022.<ref>Results of the BHP Group Shareholder Meetings in Connection with Unification BHP 20 January 2022</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2023, BHP took over Oz Minerals in a $9.6 billion deal.<ref>Kanika Sood and Brad Thompson. BHP, Oz Minerals agree scheme deed in #9.6b deal Australian Financial Review 21 December 2022</ref><ref>Court approves Oz Minerals scheme of arrangement BHP 17 April 2023</ref><ref>Scheme of Arrangement becomes effective Oz Minerals 18 April 2023</ref><ref>Vast majority of Oz Minerals jobs in SA to stay after BHP takeover InDaily 18 April 2023</ref>
In fiscal year 2021-2022, BHP's annual profit amounted to more than $34 billion (an increase of 34%) of $65 billion (an increase of 14%). The coal division's profits reached almost $9 billion (a loss of $577 million in 2022), with the BHP's iron ore division making $21.7 billion (a decrease of $4.6 billion since 2022). Profit growth allowed the company to pay a record dividend of $7.6 billion for the half-year ending December 31.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BHP made an offer to acquire Anglo American for £31 billion in April 2024; however, the offer was rejected by the Anglo American as "highly unattractive".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A revised offer was also rejected in May 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In July 2024, BHP and Lundin Mining agreed to jointly acquire 100% of Filo Corp. through a Canadian plan of arrangement. BHP and Lundin Mining also agreed to form a 50/50 joint venture to hold the Filo del Sol (FDS) and Josemaria projects.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CorporationEdit
Until January 2022, BHP was a dual-listed company; the Australian BHP Billiton Limited and the British BHP Billiton plc were separately listed with separate shareholder bodies, while conducting business as one operation with identical boards of directors and a single management structure.<ref name="ar"/> The headquarters of BHP Billiton Limited and the global headquarters of the combined group were located in Melbourne, Australia. The headquarters of BHP Billiton plc were located in London, England.<ref name="ar"/> Its main office locations were in Australia, the U.S., Canada, the UK, Chile, Malaysia, and Singapore.<ref name="ar"/>
The company's shares traded on the following exchanges:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton plc were renamed BHP Group Limited and BHP Group plc, respectively, on 19 November 2018.<ref>BHP "Change of name to BHP Group", 20 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.</ref>
Senior managementEdit
In 1998, BHP hired American Paul Anderson to restructure the company. Anderson successfully completed the four-year project with a merger between BHP and London-based Billiton.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In July 2002, Brian Gilbertson of Billiton was appointed CEO, but resigned after just six months, citing irreconcilable differences with the board.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Upon Gilbertson's departure in early 2003, Chip Goodyear was appointed the new CEO, increasing sales by 47 per cent and profits by 78 per cent during his tenure.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Goodyear retired on 30 September 2007.<ref name=":2"/> Marius Kloppers was Goodyear's successor.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following Kloppers' tenure, Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of Non-Ferrous, assumed the role of CEO in 2013.<ref>Template:Who's Who</ref> Australia mining head Mike Henry succeeded Mackenzie on 1 January 2020.<ref>"Mike Henry's 30-year journey to BHP's top job"; James Thompson; The Australian Financial Review; Nov. 14, 2019.</ref>
Business trendsEdit
The key trends for BHP are (as of the financial year ending 31 December):
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EBIT (USD billion)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
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Total Assets (USD billion)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
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Market cap (USD billion)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 8.65 | 0.32 | ... | 18.81 | ||||
| 2005 | 26.72 | 9.48 | 41.84 | 101.19 | ||||
| 2010 | 52.79 | 20.12 | 88.85 | 255.71 | ||||
| 2011 | 71.73 | 31.91 | 102.92 | 186.61 | ||||
| 2012 | 70.47 | 24.86 | 129.27 | 205.15 | ||||
| 2013 | 53.86 | 21.85 | 139.17 | 180.33 | ||||
| 2014 | 56.76 | 22.55 | 151.41 | 127.84 | ||||
| 2015 | 44.63 | 8.76 | 124.58 | 69.19 | ||||
| 2016 | 28.56 | 2.94 | 118.95 | 96.48 | ||||
| 2017 | 35.74 | 12.63 | 117.00 | 122.68 | ||||
| 2018 | 43.12 | 16.25 | 111.99 | 121.93 | ||||
| 2019 | 44.28 | 16.61 | 100.86 | 137.78 | ||||
| 2020 | 38.92 | 14.07 | 105.73 | 165.00 | ||||
| 2021 | 56.92 | 25.15 | 108.92 | 152.29 | ||||
| 2022 | 65.09 | 34.27 | 95.16 | 157.01 | ||||
| 2023 | 53.81 | 23.55 | 101.29 | 172.85 | ||||
| 2024 | 55.65 | 18.23 | 102.36 | 124.52 |
OperationsEdit
BHP has mining operations in Australia, North America, and South America.<ref name="ar"/>
The company has five primary operational units:
The company's mines are as follows:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AustraliaEdit
New South WalesEdit
QueenslandEdit
- Broadmeadow (50%) BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
- Goonyella (50%) BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
- Hay Point coal terminal
- Peak Downs (50%) BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
- Saraji (50%) BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
- Caval Ridge (50%) BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
South AustraliaEdit
Western AustraliaEdit
- Area C mine
- Eastern Range mine
- Jimblebar mine
- Kalgoorlie
- Kambalda
- Kwinana
- Leinster
- Mount Keith
- Mount Whaleback
- Nickel West
- Nimingarra Iron Ore Mine, Jointly owned with Itochu and Mitsubishi)
- North West Shelf Venture, (16.67% LNG phase, 8.33% domestic gas phase.)
- Orebodies 18, 23 and 25 mine
- Port Hedland
- South Flank mine
- Yandi mine
- Yarrie mine
BrazilEdit
- Samarco: a joint-venture with Vale (50% ownership each). The project led to the worst environmental disaster in the history of mining in Brazil:<ref name=record>Template:Cite news</ref> the collapse of two iron ore tailings dams<ref name="Darlington">Template:Cite news</ref> in Bento Rodrigues, a subdistrict of Mariana.
CanadaEdit
- Jansen potash development project, Saskatchewan
ChileEdit
- Pampa Norte
- Cerro Colorado ("temporary closure" since 2023)<ref name=consejocc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=reporte>Template:Cite news</ref>
PeruEdit
- Antamina (non-operated asset)
BHP FoundationEdit
The BHP Foundation is a philanthropic organisation funded by BHP, which Template:As of was funding 38 projects in 65 countries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its Australian programs are focused on Indigenous Australian self-determination, and young people. One of its partner organisations is Reconciliation Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ControversiesEdit
Responsibility for climate damageEdit
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BHP is listed as one of the 90 fossil fuel extraction and marketing companies responsible for two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions since the beginning of the industrial age.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Its cumulative emissions as of 2010 have been estimated at 7,606 MtTemplate:CO2e, representing 0.52% of global industrial emissions between 1751 and 2010, ranking it the 19th-largest corporate polluter.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> According to BHP management 10% of these emissions are from direct operations, while 90% come from products sold by the company.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> BHP has been voluntarily reporting its direct GHG emissions since 1996. In 2013, it was criticised for lobbying against carbon pricing in Australia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2024, BHP announced that the company was on track to meet its 30% emissions reduction target by 2030 from 2020 baseline levels and did not rule out using carbon offsets as part of its $4 billion plan to meet the target.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
BHP reported total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 30 June 2020 at 15,800 Kt.<ref name="BHP Total CO2e emissions for 2020Q2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Alt URL</ref>
| Jun 2015 | Jun 2016 | Jun 2017 | Jun 2018 | Jun 2019 | Jun 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| citation | CitationClass=web
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Ok Tedi environmental disasterEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Ok Tedi environmental disaster caused severe harm to the environment along the Ok Tedi River and the Fly River in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea between around 1984 and 2013. In 1999, BHP reported that 90 million tons of mine waste was annually discharged into the river for more than ten years and destroyed downstream villages, agriculture and fisheries. Mine wastes were deposited along Template:Cvt of the Ok Tedi and the Fly River below its confluence with the Ok Tedi, and over an area of Template:Cvt. BHP's CEO, Paul Anderson, said that the Ok Tedi Mine was "not compatible with our environmental values and the company should never have become involved."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Asof, mine operators continued to discharge 80 million tons of tailings, overburden, and mine-induced erosion into the river system each year. About Template:Cvt of forest has died or is under stress. As many as Template:Cvt may eventually be harmed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the 1990s the communities of the lower Fly Region, including the Yonggom people,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> sued BHP and received US$28.6 million in an out-of-court settlement, which was the culmination of an enormous public-relations campaign against the company by environmental groups. As part of the settlement, a (limited) dredging operation was put in place and efforts were made to rehabilitate the site around the mine. However, the mine is still in operation and waste continues to flow into the river system. BHP was granted legal indemnity from future mine related damages. Experts predict that it will take 300 years to clean up the toxic contamination.<ref name="The Age Jan 20 2007">Template:Cite news</ref>
Bento Rodrigues dam collapseEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 2015, the company was involved in the Bento Rodrigues tailings dam collapse, the worst environmental disaster in the history of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.<ref name="record"/><ref name="Darlington"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 5 November 2015, an iron ore mine tailings dam near Mariana, south-eastern Brazil, owned and operated by Samarco, a subsidiary of BHP and Vale, suffered a catastrophic failure, devastating the nearby town of Bento Rodrigues with the mudflow, killing 19 people, injuring more than 50 and causing enormous ecological damage,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and threatening life along the Rio Doce and the Atlantic Ocean near the mouth of the Rio Doce.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The accident was one of the biggest environmental disasters in Brazil's history.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
An investigation into the disaster commissioned by BHP, Vale and Samarco found the collapse was due to a variety of construction and design flaws.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2018, Samarco, Vale and BHP signed an agreement for the Brazilian government to drop a $7 billion civil lawsuit against the mining companies and allow two years for the companies to address the greater US$55 billion civil lawsuit brought by Brazil's federal prosecutors seeking social, environmental and economic compensation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Escondida and Cerro Colorado water usage issueEdit
BHP has been accused of perpetrating irregularities with respect to drawing waters above the granted limit from the aquifers. Due to which the water table has dropped significantly, making land-based livelihoods less viable for people of the community, many of whom have been forced to relocate to urban areas. In January 2021, the Supreme Court of Chile validated the objections of local indigenous tribes about BHP's water usage and impacts on wetland areas. Later in July, the same court ordered BHP to begin the application process for Cerro Colorado operating permits from scratch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Sexual harassmentEdit
From 2019 to 2021, BHP registered six cases of sexual assault and 73 cases of sexual harassment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A survey of 425 workers conducted by The Western Mine Workers' Alliance, showed that two-thirds of female respondents had experienced verbal sexual harassment while working in the FIFO mining industry, with 36% of women and 10% of men having experienced some form of harassment in the last 12 months.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In response, BHP terminated or otherwise permanently removed forty eight workers from its sites.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Other significant accidentsEdit
Bad weather caused a BHP Billiton helicopter to crash in Angola on 16 November 2007, killing the helicopter's five occupants. The deceased were: BHP Billiton Angola Chief Operating Officer David Hopgood (Australian), Angola Technical Services Operations Manager Kevin Ayre (British), Wild Dog Helicopters pilot Kottie Breedt (South African), Guy Sommerfield (British) of MMC and Louwrens Prinsloo (Namibian) of Prinsloo Drilling. The helicopter crashed approximately Template:Convert from the Alto Cuilo diamond exploration camp in Lunda Norte, northeastern Angola. BHP Billiton responded by suspending operations in the country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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