BHP used its annual general meeting (AGM) to affirm a company that is “fundamentally repositioned – or better positioned” for the future than a year ago.
Company chair Ken MacKenzie highlighted several 2022 achievements that have set BHP up for continued success.
These included unifying the corporate structure, where the Big Australian combined its dual companies, BHP Group Limited in Australia and BHP Group Plc in the United Kingdom, under the one banner, BHP Group Limited. This took effect in late January.
MacKenzie also highlighted the merger of BHP’s petroleum business with Woodside, its “simplified” coal portfolio after divesting its 80 per cent interest in BHP Mitsui Coal (BMC) to Stanmore Resources in May, and the approval of its Jansen potash project in Canada.
“Potash is a new commodity for BHP which has the potential to deliver value for a century or more,” he told shareholders.
This has ultimately positioned BHP to benefit from several so-called megatrends.
“The changes we have made across BHP align your company with the megatrends of decarbonisation, population growth, and demand for higher standards of living,” MacKenzie said.
The world’s ongoing push for decarbonisation is especially relevant for BHP, which is poised to take advantage with its considerable stable of ‘future-facing’ critical minerals.
“According to our modelling, to deliver our Paris-aligned 1.5°C, the demand for copper, nickel and steel will grow to enable the infrastructure and products required for the energy transition,” MacKenzie said.
BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry also highlighted the company’s decarbonisation credentials.
“We are confident the fundamentals of decarbonisation, population growth, rising living standards and urbanisation will drive demand for the commodities in our reshaped portfolio for decades into the future,” he told shareholders.
“BHP will continue to provide the commodities the world needs and deliver value for our stakeholders. With your support, we will help build a better future.”
Henry also used the AGM to highlight the success of the BHP Operating System (BOS), which supported the delivery of more than $US1.3 billion ($1.94 billion) in savings in the 2021–22 financial year.
This comes as the major miner focuses on its company culture.
“A key means of truly empowering our people is the BHP Operating System – this is our proprietary way of working that creates a culture and capability where we make continuous improvement central to everyone’s role,” Henry said.
“The BHP Operating System is giving people throughout BHP both the license and the tools to bring their knowledge to bear in identifying and locking in new and better ways of doing things.
“Our Centres of Excellence encourage deep technical capability, allow us to bring in best practice from other industries, and enable faster deployment of improvement ideas across our business.
“When we combine these with the power of data, we accelerate improvements across our value chain – from the geoscience required in exploration through to the marketing of our products.”