Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced its production results for the first nine months ended March 31 of the financial year 2023-2024.
The company’s iron ore production in the given period decreased marginally by 0.7 percent year on year to 190.5 million mt, largely due to the heavy rainfall during the third quarter of the financial year 2023-2024 negatively affecting the production of Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO). Mike Henry, CEO of BHP, has stated that they remain on track to meet iron ore and energy production targets for the year.
BHP Billiton said that it expects its iron ore production to range between 254 million mt and 264.5 million mt for the financial year 2023-24, remaining unchanged from the previous forecast.
In the first nine months, BHP Billiton’s metallurgical coal production decreased by 15.5 percent year on year to 17.35 million mt. Production in the third quarter was affected by the fatal vehicle accident at the Saraji mine in January, resulting in suspension of operations for a day across all mines and for a further 3.5 days at Saraji. Planned maintenances and the impact of wet weather being stronger than expected also decreased the production volume. Therefore, BHP has revised its guidance for metallurgical coal production for the financial year 2023-2024 to 21.5-22.5 million mt, down from 23-25 million mt.