SYDNEY, June 18, 2026, 02:09 AEST
- BHP’s ASX shares were last at A$65.59, up 0.61%. Australia’s cash market is shut.
- BHP is getting ready to sell its Chile power transmission assets for around $1.5 billion, Reuters reported.
- Investors have been looking at copper, but iron ore demand from China is still a risk.
BHP Group’s Australian shares closed up Wednesday, still near recent peaks. Later, Reuters reported the miner was looking to sell its Chilean power transmission assets as it shifts capital to copper.
BHP shares were quoted at A$65.59, up 0.61%, according to the company’s own investor feed. The ASX cash market wasn’t open at press time; regular hours are 09:59:45 to 16:00 in Sydney.
That is now important as investors see BHP shifting from a pure iron ore play to more of a copper and dividends angle. The S&P/ASX 200 ended Wednesday 48.60 points higher, or 0.54%, at 8,966.30, a 20-day high, according to ASX data.
BHP is preparing to sell power transmission lines in Chile, Reuters said Wednesday, citing Diario Financiero. The transmission assets are worth about $1.5 billion and could hit the market sometime this year, according to the report. BHP did not reply right away to a Reuters request for comment.
The report says the assets supply electricity to Escondida, Spence, and the idled Cerro Colorado mine. Escondida sits at the heart of BHP’s copper story. Selling off non-core infrastructure would look similar to the move last year, when BHP sold a 49% interest in its Australian iron ore power assets to a BlackRock arm for $2 billion.
BHP’s tilt toward copper is shifting how the market sees the miner. Back in February, Reuters said copper—counting byproducts—brought in $7.95 billion in operating earnings for the half ending Dec. 31, ahead of iron ore’s $7.50 billion. That was the first time copper topped iron ore in BHP’s results.
BHP’s interim results beat expectations, according to Andy Forster, portfolio manager at Argo Investments, who holds BHP shares. “It was a good result,” Forster told Reuters at the time. “They smashed everyone’s expectations from a dividend perspective.” The company declared a 73 U.S. cent interim dividend per share, with a payout ratio of 60%, according to BHP’s dividend page. Reuters
Peer numbers stay cloudy. Rio Tinto and Fortescue still face the same steel-cycle theme—can India and Southeast Asia make up for slack demand in China? BHP’s Michiel Hovers told Singapore International Ferrous Week that customers in India are “doubling capacity.” “It’s happening. It’s real,” he said. Business Standard
The China overhang isn’t going away just yet. Reuters said this week that Chinese steel demand is set to drop again this year. At the same time, China Mineral Resources Group has been pushing miners harder at the bargaining table, after a drawn-out standoff with BHP and now pressure on Fortescue.
BHP faces another signpost as investors watch to see if copper bets are enough to balance questions around iron ore. The company is set to release its full-year operational review on July 16 and has annual results coming up Aug. 18, its investor calendar shows.
