The world’s leading iron ore miner, the BHP Group, announced its Q2CY’21 results today. Production for Q2CY’21 from Western Australia iron ore operations was recorded at 72.85 million tonnes (mn t), dropping by 4% y-o-y against 75.59 mn t in Q2CY’20.The figures mentioned relate to production from all its mines. Weather conditions and temporary rail labour shortage due to Covid-19 affected production.
Output rose by 9% q-o-q as compared to 66.7 mn t in Q1CY’21. It produced 284.1 mn t of iron ore (on 100% Fe basis) in FY’21 (Jun’20-Jul’21) on the back of record production at Jimblebar, despite significant weather impacts.
Production guidance for FY’22 (Jul’21- Jun’22) – The BHP Group’s FY’22 iron ore production guidance from Western Australia (100% basis) dropped to 278-288 mn t for the fiscal year. The Western Australia Iron ore (WAIO) operations continue to focus on incremental volumes growth through productivity improvements.
BHP Group’s iron ore sales down in Q2 – The BHP Group’s total iron ore sales from Pilbara on 100% basis were recorded at 73.71 mn t in Q2CY’21, down against 77.05 mn t in Q2CY’20. On a quarterly basis, sales increased by 12% as compared to 66.03 mn t in Q1CY’21.
Key updates
- The South Flank project is expected to ramp up to its full production capacity of 80 mntpa. (on 100% basis) over three years. Once fully ramped up, the high quality ore will increase WAIO’s average iron ore grade from 61-62% and the overall lump proportion from 25% to 30-33%.
- Samarco pellet production was at 1.9 mn t, after the re-commencement of iron ore pellet production at one concentrator in Dec20. Production for the 2022 financial year is expected to be at 3-4 mntpa (BHP share). Production capacity of approximately 8 mntpa (100 % basis) is expected to be reached in the second half of FY’22.
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