MELBOURNE, June 7, 2026, 23:05 AEST
BHP Group is set for a forced pause after falling late in the week. The miner’s Australian shares dropped from a record high as weaker iron ore prices weighed on the sector.
BHP shares ended Friday at A$61.24, off 2.5% for the session and down 1.7% over the week. The stock had climbed as high as A$65.04 earlier, setting a new 52-week high before giving up ground.
The Australian Securities Exchange is closed on Monday for the King’s Birthday holiday, so there’s no regular share trading. Local investors have to wait until Tuesday for a new cash-market price, after more offshore commodity trading.
ASX 200 dips as iron ore slide hits miners
The Friday drop wasn’t only about BHP. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.7% to 8,625.10. Iron ore prices dropped for a fourth week to $101.96 a tonne, weighing on the big miners—BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue.
BHP flipped after copper’s run earlier this week. Copper is now more important to BHP, with the metal needed for grids, wires and data-centre gear. Investors have shown they’ll pay for miners that lean into copper.
Iron ore is getting harder to shrug off. MarketIndex reported materials shares took a hit Thursday as fresh worries over supply from Guinea’s Simandou project hurt sentiment. SGX iron ore futures dropped to a two-month low, while shares of BHP, Rio and Fortescue all slid.
BHP says it’s more than an iron ore miner. In February, Chief Executive Mike Henry said copper made up 51% of underlying EBITDA, the biggest part of group earnings on that measure, which is adjusted before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and one-offs. BHP also raised its copper production target for fiscal 2026 to a range of 1.9 million to 2.0 million tonnes.
BHP said last week it’s teaming up with Microsoft on ways to boost copper leaching. That’s the method for pulling metal out of ore. “As copper demand grows and new deposits become harder and more expensive to develop, improving recovery from existing ores is a critical lever to help meet future supply needs,” BHP Vice President Innovation Jessica Farrell said. BHP
Labour risk is in focus this week. Electrical workers at BHP’s Port Hedland bulk export port in Western Australia could go on strike before June 30, Reuters said, putting iron ore exports at risk at a major hub.
Competition is changing here as well. Last week, Reuters said China Mineral Resources Group told some steelmakers not to talk to Fortescue about a new iron ore product. The move shows China’s central buyer is pushing miners for better deals while steel margins are still tight.
BHP faces some clear risks if key markets turn. If iron ore keeps falling, Simandou supply fears drag on, China’s steel mills don’t recover, or copper retreats further, BHP’s copper premium might not hold up. Copper slid 3.8% on June 5 to $6.26 a pound, pulling back from earlier record highs.
BHP is caught between its iron ore cycle and its push into copper growth. Where investors go first could show up in trading at Tuesday’s open.
