BofA Global Metals Mining and Steel Conference 2026

Presentation
Webcast

CEO Elect - Brandon Craig

Hello and thank you for the warm welcome.

I know you’re used to seeing Mike Henry at this Conference. Mike has led BHP with clarity and discipline, and I am deeply honoured to be succeeding him as CEO on the 1st of July. And with that date fast approaching, we thought it appropriate for me to join you all today.

Mike and I have spent a lot of time on the road together since the announcement – speaking with our workforce and meeting with our key stakeholders and shareholders. The message we have heard is consistent – BHP is performing strongly, and there is a massive opportunity ahead of us.

Before I go further though, please note the disclaimer and its importance.

BHP has evolved generation by generation to meet the changing needs of the world.

Under Andrew Mackenzie, BHP simplified its portfolio. Under Mike, we pivoted towards future-facing commodities, built a world-class portfolio of organic growth options, and embedded the BHP Operating System, BOS, to build a culture of high performance.

BHP has a clear and compelling strategy: to invest in highly attractive and durable commodities; operate world-class tier 1 assets with excellence; offer a distinctive approach to social value; and allocate capital with discipline.

This strategy has been very successful. Since 2020, we have delivered total shareholder returns of more than 300 per cent – around 25 percentage points higher than the average of our closest peers, and significantly above the MSCI World Materials Index.

So today I want to talk about the strength of the position we’re in right now, and the potential I see for BHP to operate at an even higher velocity, and with increased ambition, to lift safety, productivity and growth to the next level.

Let’s start with where we are now.

Our half year results demonstrate the quality of our business.

• Margins averaging above 50% over 25 years.
• A strong balance sheet, strengthened by actions to unlock undervalued and underutilised capital.
• A track record of more than $110 billion returned to shareholders over the past decade.
• And a strong pipeline of organic growth.

That gives us a strong platform to deal with a world that is changing at pace.

• Geopolitical complexity is increasing;
• Trade flows are changing;
• And energy and resource security is front and centre.

These dynamics bring challenges – but also opportunity. In this environment asset quality, operating discipline and the ability to adapt matter more than ever.

A key pillar of our strategy, and reason for BHP’s ongoing success, is operating tier 1 assets with excellence.

Low-cost high-quality assets, operated well, with discipline, generate higher margins and cash flows through the cycle. Even more so in periods of high inflation.

That is where BHP is advantaged. And in times like this, the cost gap between efficient and less efficient companies grows – steepening the cost curve.

The result is the ability to capture higher relative margins through the cycle.

In short, we are built to be resilient and to create value – through the cycle.

Of course, strong foundations start with safety. This is non-negotiable and will be my first priority.

We have an improving track record – but we’re not yet at zero which is where we intend to be.

We will keep strengthening our foundations through a safety-first culture, faster and more rigorous intervention, alongside the improvements enabled by our Operating System. And we will use more technology to keep people out of harm’s way and detect and control risks earlier.

One of the reasons I’m passionate about this sector is that no matter how well you are performing, there is always another level we can reach when we stay focused on what matters most.

A new horizon of performance lies ahead of us and I am determined to lead BHP there.

We will accelerate performance by pairing the BHP Operating System with faster adoption of technology to unlock even greater safety and productivity. As those two systems reinforce each other, the rate of improvement can be even greater.

We’ll continue disciplined, consistent growth – developing the pipeline already in front of us and staying ready to act when value-accretive opportunities emerge. The point is not growth for growth's sake; it is value-accretive growth that ultimately matters.

We’ll also be stronger and more resilient, building and investing in strategic relationships, supported by the creation of social value – our positive contribution to society, to navigate and grasp opportunities in an increasingly complex world.

And we’ll do all of that while maintaining a strong focus on capital discipline and attractive shareholder returns – exactly what our investors rightly expect from us.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work across the majority of BHP assets.

What I have seen is that operational excellence comes from disciplined systems, world class teams and a culture of disciplined daily improvement and an operating system that makes that repeatable.

That discipline creates stability, and that stability unlocks performance.

The quality of this system - and the consistency with which we apply it - is a competitive advantage.

We’ve seen the power of BOS in our Iron Ore business, in Copper South Australia – and more recently, at Escondida.

We assess BOS maturity through an Operational Excellence Index. As you can see on this slide, Escondida’s OEI continues to trend upwards and is already ‘world-leading’ against external benchmarks.

And results follow. As we reported last month, Escondida delivered record material movement and concentrator throughput for the nine months to March.

The exciting point is how much opportunity remains. We continue to progress BOS across the company, and the opportunity now is to lift our rate of improvement further by pairing BOS with emerging technology. Together, they can create a compounding effect: stronger safety outcomes, accelerating productivity, with greater consistency.

Great operating performance – and a diversified portfolio – drives strong cash flows that underpin shareholder returns and reinvestment.

We are focused on growth… and generating it in a disciplined way.

Over the past two months we have achieved two important milestones:

• We have submitted the environmental permit application for Escondida’s new concentrator;
• And Resolution Copper completed the land exchange – enabling the important work to better understand the orebody to now progress.

Our high-quality, capital-efficient organic growth options are expected to deliver compound annual copper equivalent production growth of 3 to 4% through to 2035.

This includes growth of around 5% per year, on average, in our copper business that will further increase our exposure to forecast copper price upside.

In copper, we are the world’s largest producer, and we plan to increase production on an attributable basis, to about 2 million tonnes per annum by 2035.

We have a strong pipeline of growth options today, but we’re not stopping there.

One of my priorities will be ensuring we have options to grow well beyond 2035. That means increasing exploration, seeking opportunities to partner with peers to unlock value in adjacent operations and by executing smaller ‘bolt on’ acquisitions when the value case supports them.

In this way, we will deliver more ‘programmatic growth’.

And while we will remain extremely disciplined, our diversified model and strong balance sheet gives us the ability to move at pace if the right opportunity presents itself.

Credibility with investors is built over time, and it is built through delivery.

Our focus is straightforward: set clear commitments, allocate capital against them, and then execute.

More simply put, we do what we say we will do, and in turn we create value for shareholders.

Copper is a good example.

We have increased our copper production guidance for the next two years at a time when supply across the sector remains constrained, and peers have revised their production expectations downwards.

This gives us more exposure to a constructive copper market, in a way that is underpinned by assets, operational performance, and disciplined execution – not simply aspiration.

That is the kind of growth we want to be known for: growth that is visible, executable, and value-accretive.

In closing, BHP thinks and plans in decades. We have done very well over the last decade – and we’re set up to win over the next one.

We have a simple and clear strategy.

My focus is to accelerate performance – more velocity, more ambition, stronger discipline.

That means higher productivity and capability.

It means consistent, disciplined growth.

And it means an even stronger, more resilient BHP.

We have an extremely bright future ahead and I am excited to lead this next phase of delivery.

I look forward to connecting with you all in the coming months and beyond.

Thank you.