SYDNEY, June 29, 2026, 05:06 (AEST)
- South32 shares closed at A$3.91 on Friday, dropping 5.33% for the week. The price is now 20.37% under the June 3 peak.
- LME aluminium cash slid to $3,164 a tonne on June 26, down 16.7% from $3,797 on June 3, according to Westmetall data.
- The S&P/ASX 200 ended Friday up 0.18%, but MarketIndex said it lost about 0.91% over the week.
- South32 is due to report June-quarter numbers on July 20, with FY26 results scheduled for Aug. 27.
South32 Ltd ASX:S32 heads into Monday’s pre-open session with a deeper fall for June than aluminium itself, the metal often cited for pressure on diversified miners. At the dateline, the ASX cash market was still shut. Regular trading kicks off just ahead of 10 a.m. Sydney time and ends at 4 p.m.
The stock finished Friday at A$3.91, down 20.37% from its June 3 high of A$4.91. During the June 3 to June 26 period, LME aluminium cash dropped 16.7% to $3,164 a tonne from $3,797, according to Westmetall daily LME prices.
The spread is worth watching since South32 isn’t just about aluminium. Its assets cover alumina, manganese, copper, zinc, lead, and silver, and the Hermosa project in the U.S. is still being developed. The drop in the stock shows investors are pricing in more risk tied to manganese and project spending, not simply shifting the stock with aluminium.
| Gauge | Latest reading | Market read |
|---|---|---|
| South32 share price | A$3.91; down 5.33% over seven days | Sellers hit the stock harder than the wider market before the June-quarter numbers. |
| LME aluminium cash | $3,164/t on June 26 | Off 16.7% since June 3, by the calculation; still the most direct real-time gauge for South32 sentiment. |
| S&P/ASX 200 | 8,764.20; up 0.18% Friday | The broader market dipped much less than South32 over the week. |
| S&P/ASX 200 Materials | 23,569.90; 5-day change -4.06% | Materials were down across the board, but South32 dragged further behind the group. |
Trading was mixed. The ASX 200 fell 0.91% for the week, according to MarketIndex, which also noted the Materials Index dropped 9.8% over six sessions before picking up early Friday.
ASX 200 slipped on Thursday, IG’s Tony Sycamore said, hit by a firmer U.S. dollar and lower commodity prices. Materials dropped for the sixth session in a row, he noted.
South32’s last ops update is still framing the risk. Back in April, the miner cut its FY26 Australia Manganese output guidance by over 6% to 3.0 million wet metric tonnes. Heavy rain and Cyclone Narelle disrupted production at Gemco. Reuters said March-quarter total manganese came in at 1.09 million wmt, missing a Visible Alpha forecast of 1.25 million wmt.
Hermosa is under the microscope too. South32, in its April 30 update, raised Taylor’s expected growth capex to around US$3.3 billion from US$2.16 billion. First output for Taylor is now set for the second half of FY28, delayed from the second half of FY27. Full output won’t hit until FY31. CEO Graham Kerr called Hermosa a project with the “potential to produce critical minerals over several decades.” South32 now pegs Taylor’s steady-state EBITDA at about US$650 million a year. Investegate
South32 doesn’t have an earnings event scheduled this week. The miner’s next date on its investor calendar is the June quarter report, set for July 20. Full-year results for FY26 are due August 27.
