The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is up more than 1% after the mining giant announced its production for the September 2025 quarter.
September 2025 quarter
There are four main commodities that BHP produces and we’ll look at the performance compared to the fourth quarter of FY25 (quarter on quarter) and the first quarter of FY25 (year on year).
BHP produced 493.6kt of copper, which was a decline of 4% quarter on quarter, but up 4% year on year. It noted record concentrator throughput at Escondida.
Iron ore production came to 64.1mt for the quarter, down 9% quarter on quarter and down 1% year on year. The miner said its Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) division delivered another “standout” quarter, with record material mined while completing critical infrastructure upgrades ahead of schedule. The infrastructure delivered was the planned rebuild of car dumper 3.
Steelmaking coal production was 4.9mt for the quarter, down 5% quarter on quarter, but up 8% year on year. BHP said that was due to strong mining rates at Broadmeadow and increased stripping at its open cut mines.
BHP produced 3.5mt of energy coal, representing a 13% decline quarter on quarter and a 4% decline year on year.
Portfolio organic growth options
The business said that both stages of the Jansen potash project in Canada are advancing, with stage 1 reaching 73% completion and on track for production to begin in 2027, while stage 2 is now 13% complete.
BHP re-iterated that the long-term demand fundamentals for potash are attractive and Jansen is expected to be one of the lowest-cost producers.
During the quarter, it also received approval for the environmental impact declaration (DIA) for the Laguna Seca expansion at Escondida. The DIA permit for the Escondida new concentrator remains on track to be submitted in the second half of FY26.
BHP also welcomed state and federal minsters for a site visit to Copper South Australia, where it’s progressing initiatives aimed at increasing growth through strengthening mining productivity as it continues building a “world-class” copper province.
Outlook for the BHP share price
The BHP CEO Mike Henry said:
Overall macro-economic signals for commodity demand remain resilient, and global growth forecasts are moving higher. While we expect some deceleration in growth in H2 CY25, in China we still expect GDP growth of ~5% for the year. In copper, major disruptions at some of our competitors’ mines have tightened overall market fundamentals, benefitting our world-class portfolio of assets.
With momentum from a strong first quarter, BHP is on track to deliver on full-year guidance and we are making progress on our growth
pipeline across Australia and the Americas.
I like the diversification of the commodity portfolio, but I prefer to invest when there are resource price fears around the mining giant, so this isn’t the best time to invest, in my opinion.
Instead, I’d wait for when there’s a weaker iron ore price and focus on other ASX dividend shares.
