BHP CFO says new investors buying in on copper exposure, AI demand

SYDNEY, May 6 (Reuters) – BHP’s Chief Financial Officer Vandita Pant said on Wednesday that a new and broader set of ​investors were buying into the company as AI demand makes its exposure ‌to copper more valuable.

Shares in BHP, the world’s biggest listed miner and top copper producer, rose to a record on March 2 and then fell amid a broad sector selloff as the war in Iran began, though ​they have since pared some of the losses.

“What we have seen since half results is ​that there is a growing interest and what we see in ⁠our register is more international generalist investors,” she told the Macquarie Australia Conference in Sydney.

BHP Group ​reported a stronger-than-expected half-year underlying profit driven by copper, which for the first time ​surpassed iron ore in the company’s earnings, as prices for the red metal surged on AI-fuelled demand.

“They like electrification like AI, but they don’t want to pick winners. They are going upstream and saying where’s ​the bottleneck? Copper is a bottleneck. Who do we invest in where the ​downside risk can be cut, but we still have exposure to this upside. And for them, BHP ‌seems ⁠like a good choice.”

Major fund managers are heralding a sustained rally in mining and metals as money floods into the sectorat the fastest pace in years, driven by a build-out of AI infrastructure, rising defence spending and a shift away from expensive tech stocks, ​investors told Reuters last ​month.

Responding to ⁠a question on whether BHP would ever revise the commodities it focuses on from its core four of copper, iron ore, potash ​and coking coal, Pant said the portfolio was regularly reviewed ​and also ⁠mentioned its uranium output.

BHP is a major producer of uranium, which it mines as a byproduct at its Olympic Dam copper operations in South Australia.

“We continue to be quite ⁠a ​positive even on uranium,” she said. “We have a lot ​of that in our Olympic Dam mine here in South Australia. So (we are) very comfortable with that ​position.”