BHP sets early 2021 for Jansen project decision

BHP, the world’s biggest miner, said on Thursday it will make a final investment decision on its long-delayed $17bn Jansen potash project in Canada in about February 2021.

Investors have been awaiting a decision by BHP on whether to go ahead with the project, which would be its most significant investment in years, and which it hopes will provide another pillar of long-term growth.

In its September production report, BHP said project planning and work to finalise a port solution was continuing and the $5bn-plus stage one will be presented to the board for an investment decision by February.

BHP, which has already spent $2.7bn on Jansen, said in May it expects excess supply capacity of the crop nutrient to be used up by the middle of the next decade, while the Jansen project would create a “high-margin, long-life” mine. Potash is a potassium-rich salt mainly used in fertiliser to improve the quality and yield of agricultural production.

Elsewhere, BHP posted a slight dip in its September quarter iron ore production due to planned maintenance at a key port, but maintained its fiscal year 2020 iron ore production forecast.

PORT HEDLAND

The result was in line with analyst forecasts and came as the miner carries out continued maintenance at Port Hedland in Western Australia, the world’s biggest iron ore port, which is used by three of Australia’s topfour iron ore miners.

“Lower volumes reflected significant planned maintenance at Port Hedland, including a major car dumper maintenance programme,” BHP said in a statement.

Output for the three months ended September 30, BHP’s first fiscal quarter, was 69-million tons, down 1% on a year ago and 3% on the June quarter.

Annual output is expected at 273-million to 286-million tons.

Iron ore prices have come off five-year highs touched in July as Brazil’s Vale ramped up production that had been curtailed by a fatal dam disaster, and Australian shipments are expected to moderate into year end.

“Overall, a solid result for BHP with all key segments broadly in line with our estimates,” Royal Bank of Canada said in a report.

“BHP’s more diverse portfolio mitigates the potential impact of falling iron ore prices we maintain our preference for BHP over its key Australian peer Rio.”

Quarterly copper output rose 5% on a year ago as production recovered from outages in Australia and Chile, while metallurgical coal production fell after planned maintenance shutdowns.