Updated ,first published
Almost 150 BHP employees were subjected to sexual harassment, including indecent touching and stalking, or racial abuse in just 12 months, leading to 131 sackings and resignations at the mining giant in response.
BHP’s ethics and investigation unit handled 113 complaints of harassment in the 12 months to July, which were detailed in the company’s annual report released on Tuesday, and more than two dozen cases of racial abuse. At least 125 cases weren’t investigated because of insufficient information or the wishes of the impacted person.
The mining industry, which often accommodates large groups of mostly male workers in remote camps, has suffered a wave of damaging sexual harassment claims in recent years.
Both BHP and rival miner Rio Tinto were subject to separate class actions in 2024 alleging harassment and sex discrimination against female employees, which are still before the courts.
Rio Tinto commissioned an independent report that found in 2022 sexual harassment was widespread among its fly-in, fly-out workers. A parliamentary inquiry uncovered similar allegations at BHP in 2021.
Another mining giant, Fortescue, is also facing a class-action lawsuit from female employees who allege widespread sexual harassment and assault, including reports of men stealing their underwear from public laundries and being unable to go to the gym because men touched them inappropriately.
Overall, BHP said the number of reported cases fell from the previous year and none involved “sexual assault”. However, a large proportion involved sexualised and indecent touching and other cases included sexually aggressive comments, stalking, image-based harassment and jokes or sexualised conversations, the company said.
“People who may have been impacted by sexual harassment or racial harassment are offered specialised support … The response is guided by the impacted person’s preferences and the nature and severity of the alleged misconduct,” BHP said.
On the commercial front, the world’s biggest miner said it will pay its Australian shareholders a $12 billion dividend bonanza, as copper prices hit records amid soaring global demand for green energy, electric vehicles and AI data centres.
BHP shrugged off heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and rising diesel prices to declare a final dividend of US99¢ ($1.39) per share, taking its total payout for the year to $US1.72 a share, up from $US1.10 the previous year. The global resources giant’s full-year $US8.7 billion ($12.2 billion) return is the biggest payout for its shareholders in four years.
BHP has pivoted to copper as its future key commodity after China’s economic slowdown and fresh supply entering the market heralded the end of a decades-long iron ore boom, which had fuelled its profits in recent years. It’s now the world’s largest copper producer.
The move is paying off for the miner, with the price of copper, a metal essential to conducting electricity, near record highs – around $US6.70 per pound (454 grams) – as global demand for green energy and AI-driven data banks rockets. Shortages of copper concentrates and other feedstocks in China are crimping output from its smelters, adding to price pressures.
The red metal’s upward trajectory is also being underpinned by a slump in production from Chile’s state-owned miner, Codelco, a top producer. Copper traders, worried about US President Donald Trump slapping tariffs on copper, are also stockpiling the metal into US warehouses, pushing up demand.
And BHP is benefiting. Its shares rose 2.7 per cent, giving it a market value of $316 billion and cementing its place as the biggest company on the ASX.
Releasing its latest full-year results on Tuesday morning, the mining giant said its net profit rose 9 per cent to $US9.8 billion, as revenues jumped 15 per cent to $US58.8 billion. More than half of those profits are now derived from its copper mines in Australia, Chile and Argentina.
“Copper is the engine that is driving BHP’s growth,” newly appointed chief executive Brandon Craig said. “For the first time, copper contributed more than half our underlying [earnings] and generated significant free cash flow, which means our copper growth is self-funding.”
The miner maintains a well-defined project pipeline of copper assets that it said can potentially lift its copper production up to 40 per cent by 2035.
BHP said it had managed to decrease costs across its operations by 6.1 per cent despite headwinds from inflation, higher diesel prices and global supply chain disruptions.
At the same time, Chinese demand for iron ore, a key ingredient of steelmaking, still remains resilient, it said. BHP’s iron ore mines in Australia’s remote Pilbara region produced a record 265 million tonnes of ore, generating about $US14 billion in underlying earnings for the company.
What BHP calls its “byproducts” – the gold, uranium and silver that are often found alongside copper – added $US4.5 billion to its bottom line.
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Simon Johanson is a business journalist at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
