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BHP Group reported better-than-expected full-year earnings and declared its highest annual dividend in four years, boosted by record copper prices that cemented the metal's lead over iron-ore as the miner's biggest earnings driver.

CEO Brandon Craig, who took the top job at the world's biggest listed mining company last month, underlined BHP's project pipeline that could boost its copper production by as much as 40% by 2035, even as production falls in the short term.

"Copper, iron, steelmaking coal and potash are foundational to the way the world is developing. That is why we are moving as fast as we can and bringing these commodities to market," he told reporters.

BHP on Tuesday reported a 30% rise in full-year underlying attributable profit of $13.2-billion for the year ended June 30, above the Visible Alpha consensus of $12.66-billion.

It announced a final dividend of 99 cents per share, bringing the full-year distribution to $1.72 apiece, the highest in four years, the miner said.

BHP shares rallied as much as 4.2% to a two-month high of A$64.79.

"Loved the dividend, a big beat on that," said portfolio manager Andy Forster of Argo Investments in Sydney, which holds BHP shares.

"Solid overall, and copper doing all the work," he said of the results, adding that BHP was emphasising longer-term growth, even though final investment decisions had not yet been made and capital spending was expected to rise by more than $1-billion next year.

Copper prices have climbed to record highs above $14 000 a ton this year, triggered by the rapid pace of energy-hungry AI data centre buildouts and the global shift toward cleaner power, intensifying miners' race to secure high-grade copper assets.

Craig said BHP always watched for market opportunities, but it was roughly five times more expensive to buy copper assets than build.

The red metal, including byproducts such as gold and uranium, generated $18.19-billion in operating earnings in the year, surpassing iron ore's $14.53-billion as BHP's top earnings driver.

BHP expects copper demand to grow to more than 50-million tons a year by 2050 from 34-million tons this year.

IRON-ORE OPERATING EARNINGS RISE

BHP's iron-ore business in Western Australia is facing challenges from industrial action, but Craig said the miner did not expect any negative effect from the first major strikes at Port Hedland in decades as talks continue on Tuesday.

As for its biggest customer, China's state iron-ore buyer, BHP is focused on efficient markets, rather than forming a combined selling desk with other miners, Craig said.

BHP's flagship Western Australia Iron Ore operations generated $14.67-billion in operating earnings in the year, up 2% from last year and in line with the Visible Alpha consensus of $14.75-billion.

The miner said it had $3.5-billion remaining that it could unlock through active capital portfolio and asset management as part of a $10-billion opportunity it had identified.

Most recently, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) invested $2-billion for a minority stake in the business' inland power network.

The miner's net debt at the end of the 2026 financial year fell to $8.69-billion, below both the target range of $10-billion to $12-billion and the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $9.1-billion.

METALLURGICAL COAL SALE SPECULATION DOUSED

Craig doused some reports that BHP could review its Queensland metallurgical coal operations for a possible sale over the next one to five years. He said the assets would be an important part of BHP's portfolio if markets developed as the miner expected.

Reuters reported on Monday that Canadian uranium miner NexGen Energy was sharing information and "talking regularly" with BHP about its Rook I uranium project in Saskatchewan....

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

At a time when calls are being made for South Africa to modernise its mining sector, emerging researchers will on October 2 have a next-generation platform to explore the future of the minerals industry.

The event is being hosted by South Africa's State-owned mineral and metallurgical organisation, Mintek, whose science convention for innovators (SCI) event will assemble emerging researchers across themes such as critical minerals, energy and innovation, emerging technologies, sustainability and the circular economy.

Papers submitted to this year's SCI symposium reflect "the depth and diversity" of research taking place across the sector, Mintek stated in a media release to Mining Weekly on Monday, August 17.

The range of perspectives includes research into rare earth element occurrence and mineralogical characterisation, precious metal recovery from mine waste, mineral collector interactions in upper group two ore flotation, and the use of biobased depressants in platinum group metals (PGMs) processing. Emphasised will be the importance of developing new approaches to extracting and processing minerals, while creating greater value from primary and secondary resources.

The energy theme will cover renewable-energy applications in mining and processing, fuel cell technologies, energy storage, hydrogen technologies and energy efficiency in processes such as milling and pyrometallurgy.

How emerging technologies can contribute to more efficient and sustainable mineral processing operations will be discussed and the emerging technologies theme will include AI, machine learning, process modelling, simulation, advanced process control, digital twins, smart operations, extraction technologies and materials development.

Among the studies that demonstrate the increasingly important role of digital technologies in addressing complex challenges across mining and mineral processing are deep offline reinforcement learning for lead flotation circuit optimisation, as well as the development of an intelligent self-healing long-range mesh communication network for real-time underground mine safety and emergency response.

The sustainability and circular economy theme will examine areas such as water treatment and management, sustainable water use, mine rehabilitation and closure, asbestos rehabilitation, carbon emissions reduction and decarbonisation.

The potential for innovative approaches to turn waste streams into sources of value will be shown by research into the evaluation of antimony in mine tailings and the extraction of calcium and magnesium from concrete waste for mineral carbonation.

The SCI, which will take place in Mintek's auditorium at 200 Malibongwe Drive, Randburg, is designed to promote knowledge exchange between emerging researchers and industry professionals, support the development of young researchers and encourage collaboration across institutions and disciplines.

It takes place at a time South Africa's global mineral and metallurgical competitors are, in particular, committing capital to digitisation and automation as well as critical minerals and beneficiation.

MODERNISATION SHOWCASE

What came across strongly at last month's South African mining modernisation showcase event is that lessons are there to be learned from other global mining jurisdictions, particularly when it comes to 'enabling environment' and 'advanced technology'.

South Africa's competitors were reported to be investing heavily in digitisation and automation, as well as in critical minerals and beneficiation.

Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) consultant Ashleigh Muller reported that South Africa's competitors are attracting considerable investment because of the high speed at which they are mode...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Canadian gold and copper producer OceanaGold plans to acquire Australia's Ausgold in a deal valued at A$776-million ($552.74-million), the companies said on Monday.

The deal represents a premium of 27.7% to Ausgold's previous close on Friday and gives OceanaGold ownership of the Katanning project in Western Australia.

Trading in Ausgold's shares was halted earlier in the day ahead of the announcement.

Ausgold shareholders will own about 6% to 8% of OceanaGold upon completion of the deal.

"This marks our first acquisition in Australia, and we are excited to build on the great work done by the Ausgold team to further optimize the development of the Katanning Gold Project for the benefit of both OceanaGold and Ausgold shareholders," OceanaGold CEO Gerard Bond said.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Anglo American has struck a yearlong supply deal with China's State-backed iron-ore buyer, joining BHP Group among miners that have finalised an agreement with the group.

South African producer Kumba Iron-ore, part of Anglo American, reached a deal with China Mineral Resources Group Co to supply iron-ore to its mills from April 1 this year until March 31, 2027, according to a person familiar with the matter. The agreement doesn't include-ore from Anglo's Minas-Rio project in Brazil, which is not sold to China on a long-term contract basis, said the person, who didn't want to be named discussing confidential information.

The world's biggest iron-ore miners, including BHP and now Fortescue, have faced a harder time reaching a deal with the Chinese buyer group due to their large portfolios of ore. CMRG represents more than half of China's steelmakers in procurement negotiations with global miners.

Kumba confirmed to analysts on an earnings call in late July that it had reached an agreement with CMRG, without giving details about the length or the terms. Its-ore is a premium product with a higher iron content, of which around 37 million tons was sold in 2025, according to the company's results.

Anglo's global head of sales and trading, Ebrahim Dadoo, told analysts on the call the company sells around 54% of its output into China. It also has volumes going into the country via spot sales and non-CMRG long-term contracts, so the volumes under the CMRG contract are "fairly small on our overall portfolio," he said.

Bloomberg calculations put the potential volume of Kumba iron-ore going to CMRG at around 8 to 10 million tons based on confirmed sales, estimated spot sales, and the reported number of CMRG member mills.

A spokesperson for Anglo American declined to comment further. CMRG didn't immediately respond to a request.

"We've had very constructive engagements with CMRG, we've got an agreement in place with them as of the first of April, and that does impact our products that we sell to CMRG member mills," Dadoo said in a transcript of the call dated July 28.

BHP faced restrictions and months of talks before it was able to agree to a yearlong deal with more yuan pricing, while FMG is currently in the midst of tense negotiations. The next hurdle is what happens when the deals come up for renewal next year, and whether CMRG will try to eke out more concessions.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

A first-of-its-kind report from researchers at Duke University and the University of Cape Town (UCT) has mapped the most credible research and development opportunities for lithium and rare earth processing, with the researchers offering recommendations to countries and companies in the Global South that are trying to go beyond mining to expand their processing capability.

The report helps to inform the global collaborative platform that is the Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South that was created in response to the anticipated rises in commodity demands for lithium and rare earths, among others.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that meeting climate targets requires an eight-fold rise in lithium demand and a doubling of magnet rare earth demand by 2040 but says the binding constraint is not getting the resources out of the ground, but the midstream processing stages - where China currently controls between 60% and 70% of lithium conversion and more than 85% of rare earths seperation.

Many Global South countries and companies within them are trying to expand their processing capability of these elements, yet many of the actors lack the understanding of the latest research, development and innovation in critical mineral processing, Duke and UCT finds.

The organisations recommend that companies making strategic decisions on where to invest in critical mineral processing should concentrate on five priorities: capturing value at the processing chokepoint, targeting the pilot-to-demonstration stage, investing in new technologies beyond tradition evaporation ponds in lithium's case, prioritising the energy and carbon cost of conversion, also in lithium's case, and treating seperation and recycling as important priorities in the case of rare earths.

Duke and UCT expand on these points by explaining that mining a lithium deposit or rare earth resource without securing downstream conversion, separation, or refining capacity leaves most of the margin and strategic leverage with whoever controls the midstream.

"Because these value chains are concentrated rather than truly global, chokepoint participation is best treated as an entry point toward broader integration across adjacent stages of the chain, not as an end state. This requires identifying and committing to specific processing partnerships or in-country conversion investments at the project development stage, well before financial close," the report states.

Additionally, the most commercially credible innovations across the lithium and rare earth chains - direct lithium extraction (DLE), lower-temperature spodumene roasting, and continuous rare earth ion exchange - currently sit at technology readiness levels of 5 to 7, which are the stages where capital availability, not technical uncertainty, is the main constraint.

UCT and Duke say financing instruments differ by stage, with pilot plants needing equity and grant capital, while demonstration and first commercial units need offtake commitments and debt guarantees.

"Companies able to invest in equity, offtake commitments, or co-development partnerships at this stage will secure better technology access and pricing than those that wait for technology readiness levels 8 to 9," the organisations note.

Moreover, in terms of lithium through brine ponds investment, UCT and Duke suggest that conventional brine evaporation recovers only 30% to 50% of lithium over a 12- to 24-month cycle and is exposed to regulatory and water-use constraints. DLE technologies, on the other hand, particularly those in China, Argentina and at pilot stage elsewhere, can recover more than 90% of lithium in hours.

However, DLE performance is strongly brine-chemistry dependent and most flows...