Soaring demand for copper will help drive mergers, BHP CEO says

Soaring demand for copper will require $250 billion of investment over the next decade, helping to drive further mergers in the industry, BHP Group Ltd. chief executive officer Mike Henry said.

“New deposits in certain key or critical minerals are becoming harder to find, more expensive to develop and requiring more by way of capability to manage risk and technical capability,” Henry said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

“That suggests an aggregation to scale over time and companies who are of scale, who have strong balance sheets like BHP and who have deep technical capability. Those will be the companies that will win in the decades ahead.”

Demand for copper, a key element in the energy transition, is set to rise by 70% to 100% by 2050, Henry said. In July, BHP swooped to buy Filo Corp., teaming up with Lundin Mining Corp. in a $3 billion deal to gain South American copper assets.

That came after BHP in May abandoned a $49 billion takeover proposal for Anglo American Plc focused on getting access to the company’s copper mines. Under UK Takeover Panel rules, once a company has made a “no intention to offer statement,” it must walk away for the next six months.

Henry declined to comment on whether BHP would make a fresh offer for Anglo.

(By Rob Verdonck)

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