https://www.miningweekly.com

Iron-ore train derailment, copper outages hit BHP bottom line

22nd January 2019

By: Esmarie Iannucci

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

     

Font size: - +

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining major BHP on Tuesday reported that its bottom-line has been hit with some $600-million following a train derailment at its Western Australian iron-ore operations in November, and other ‘unplanned’ production outages at its Olympic Dam and Spence operations.

BHP told shareholders that productivity in the half year ended December had been impacted by lower-than-expected volumes at the Olympic Dam operation, in Western Australia, owing to unplanned acid plant outages in August, which resulted in volumes declining by 45 000 t, as well as its Spence copper mine, in Chile, where a fire at the electro-winning plant in September saw production decline by 25 000 t.

The train derailment at the Western Australian iron-ore operations impacted volumes by some four-million tonnes, the miner said.

Productivity guidance for the full year is currently under review, and a revised guidance will be provided with the interim financial results.


BHP reported a 6% year-on-year decrease in second-quarter iron-ore production to 57.83-million tonnes, while iron-ore production in the half-year ended December was up by 2% to 119.22-million tonnes.


Guidance for the 2019 financial year is expected to remain unchanged at between 241-million and 250-million tonnes, or between 273-million and 283-million tonnes on a 100% basis.

Meanwhile, petroleum production for the quarter ended December was down 2% on the previous corresponding period, to 30-million barrels of oil equivalent, while half-year production was down 1% to 63-million barrels.

BHP noted that crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids production declined owing to natural field decline across the portfolio and a 70-day planned dry dock maintenance programme at Pyrenees, completed in the September quarter of last year.

Natural gas production was broadly flat, reflecting increased tax barrels at Trinidad and Tobago.

Copper production for the three months to December was down 3% on the previous corresponding period, and down 1% in the half year, to 416 000 t and 825 000 t respectively.

BHP has increased its total copper production guidance to between 1.64-million tonnes and 1.74-million tonnes for the full year, reflecting the retention of the Cerro Colorado operation, in Chile.

Meanwhile, metallurgical coal production for the quarter was up 6% on the previous corresponding period, and 2% in the half-year, to 10.2-million and 20.6-million tonnes respectively, while energy coal production was down 9% in the quarter and 5% in the half-year, to 6.6-million tonnes and 13.3-million tonnes respectively.

Energy coal production from the New South Wales operations decreased as a result of a higher average strip ratio, while production at Cerrejon decreased owing to mine sequence change.

Nickel production was down 22% in the quarter ended December, and 15% in the half-year, to 18 100 t and 39 500 t respectively, as operations at Nickel West were suspended following a fire at Kalgoorlie Smelter in September.

The smelter returned to operations in October, with full repairs expected for completion in the March quarter.

Planned maintenance at the Kwinana refinery was brought forward to align with the smelter outage, and as a result, the production guidance for the 2019 financial year has remained unchanged, and is expected to be broadly in line with the 2018 financial year.

Edited by Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION