MINING CORPORATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Gold miners’ margins dented by diesel costs

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Original article by Mark Wembridge
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 21-Oct-26

Regis Resources has advised that it produced 83,000 ounces of gold in the September quarter, compared with 101,500 tonnes in the previous three months. Regis has maintained its full-year guidance of between 360,000 and 400,000 ounces. Regis has also indicated that the rising price of diesel fuel contributed to a near-30 per cent rise in its production costs, to more than $3,600 an ounce; however, Regis received an average of $6,088 for each ounce. Bellevue Gold has also reported a sharp rise in costs, while it sold nearly 36,000 ounces of gold during the September quarter at an average of $,4980 per ounce.

CORPORATES
REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX RRL,{STORE}BELLEVUE GOLD LIMITED – ASX BGL

BHP vows to double local copper output by 2040 after early slump

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 21-Oct-26

BHP produced 71.9 million tonnes of iron ore in the Pilbara during the September quarter; it is on track to achieve the full-year production guidance of between 286 million and 298 million tonnes for 2026-27. However, BHP’s copper output was 19 per cent lower than the previous quarter, at 400,000 tonnes; the underperformance has been attributed to factors such as a mechanical outage in South Australia and poor weather at its copper mines in Chile. Meanwhile, BHP has outlined plans to upgrade its Olympic Dam smelter and refinery in South Australia at a cost of nearly $US4bn; it is part of a plan to ramp up production in SA to 500,000 tonnes by 2035 and 650,000 tonnes by 2040.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Goldmine ruling risks backlash

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Original article by Lachlan Leeming
The Australian – Page: 6 : 14-Oct-26

The Federal Court will today announce its decision on the future of Regis Resources’ McPhillamys gold project in NSW. Regis is seeking to overturn a ruling by former environment minister Tanya Plibersek in 2024 which banned the construction of a tailings dam at the site on Indigenous heritage grounds; that ruling effectively prevented Regis from proceeding with the project. Shadow resources minister Susan McDonald says ­further rulings against resources projects would undermine ­Australia reputation as a safe and reliable investment destination for mining companies.

CORPORATES
REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX RRL, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Gold Fields has plenty of capacity to pursue Northern Star deal

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Original article by Mark Wembridge
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 14-Oct-26

Gold Fields’ CEO Mike Fraser has revealed that it had initially approached Northern Star Resources about a merger in 2025. Fraser adds that South Africa-based Gold Fields has scope to increase the cash component of its latest bid, which was valued at $38.7bn at the time it was announced in September. Morgans Financial mining analyst Annabelle Sleeman says Gold Fields will need to increase both the headline price and cash component of its takeover bid; she adds that a rival bid for Northern Star is possible. Meanwhile, Fraser has indicated that Gold Fields has discussed selling some of Northern Star’s assets if its bid succeeds.

CORPORATES
NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX NST, GOLD FIELDS LIMITED

Proxy adviser opposes Hinchliffe’s BHP board role after KPMG meetings

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Original article by Edmund Tadros, Hannah Wootton, Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 7-Oct-26

Proxy adviser Ownership Matters has recommended the election or re-election of 10 directors at BHP’s annual meeting on 22 October. However, the firm has advised BHP’s institutional shareholders to vote against the re-election of Michelle Hinchliffe, who has come under scrutiny due to her role as a director of Macquarie Group. Hinchcliffe had previously worked at KPMG for 37 years, and her participation in the tender process for Macquarie’s audit contract had raised conflict of interest concerns. Hinchcliffe is also the head of BHP’s audit committee, and Ownership Mattters contends that shareholders are entitled to expect persons in these roles whose judgment about matters of audit governance is not the subject of scrutiny.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, OWNERSHIP MATTERS PTY LTD, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Unions ask umpire to end BHP fight

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 16-Sep-26

A coalition of unions has formally rejected BHP’s revised pay offer for workers at its Port Hedland iron ore export hub. The unions will instead urge the Fair Work Commission to make an intractable bargaining declaration with regard to the dispute. The unions’ move to forced arbitration under the federal government’s new industrial relations laws reflects the fact that they are more likely to get what they want via the FWC than industrial action. BHP has not ruled out putting its offer to a direct ballot of Port Hedland workers.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

BHP fails to end pay dispute

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Original article by Nick Evans, Valerina Changarathil
The Australian – Page: 15 : 9-Sep-26

BHP has held further talks with a coalition of unions that represent workers at its Port Hedland iron ore hub in the Pilbara. However, BHP failed to reach a deal with the unions, despite offering a pay rise of 17 per cent over four years (one per cent higher than its previous offer), an increase in roster allowances and a $25,000 cash ‘transition payment’ over the first two years of a new enterprise agreement. BHP’s Port Hedland workers have already taken industrial action twice in recent months, although no further industrial action is believed to be planned at this stage. Meanwhile, there have been reports that China Mineral Resources Group has directed some steel mills to put iron ore purchases from Rio Tinto on hold, in a similar pricing dispute to the one that BHP resolved earlier this year.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

ASIC to take no action against Ellison, MinRes

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Original article by Mark Wembridge
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 2-Sep-26

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission launched an investigation into Mineral Resources and founder Chris Ellison in 2024. The probe had initially centred on the latter’s alleged tax avoidance scheme, but it was widened to include the trading of shares in lithium hopeful Kali Metals in the wake of its IPO. ASIC has advised that after assessing the available evidence, it has concluded that there is no need for any enforcement action. The Australian Taxation undertook a separate investigation into Ellison.

CORPORATES
MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Investors screwed over as BHP keeps rising

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 26-Aug-26

BHP’s share price has risen by 13 per cent so far in August, reaching a new record high yesterday. The resources giant now accounts for nearly 12 per cent of the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index, compared with just 7.4 per cent at around this time last year. In contrast, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s shares have fallen by 11 per cent so far this month, and its weighting in the ASX 200 has fallen from nearly 12 per cent to 10.5 per cent in the last year. Fund managers who missed out on CBA’s stellar rise in 2025 are now facing the same issue with BHP.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX

BHP shrugs off Pilbara strikes

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 & 21 : 19-Aug-26

BHP has reported a 2025-26 net profit of $US9.83bn ($13.8bn), which is nine per cent higher than previously. CEO Brandon Craig says it was a "strong year" for the resources giant, and he notes that copper is now the main driver of its earnings. The copper division’s EBITDA topped $US18.2bn, eclipsing the iron ore arm for the first time; the latter’s full-year EBITDA of $US14.5bn was broadly in line with the previous financial year. Meanwhile, Brandon says the recent industrial action at BHP’s Port Hedland iron ore export hub has had no material impact on its Pilbara operations to date. Unions rejected BHP’s latest pay offer during negotiations yesterday.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP