BHP warns Australian mining not ready for low-cost competitors

The boom in demand from China’s industrialization is now “past the period of aggressive growth,” BHP’s Australia President Geraldine Slattery said Monday in a speech in Brisbane.

BHP, the world’s biggest miner, and rival Rio Tinto Group have recently acknowledged that Chinese steel demand is plateauing. Other commodities, such as nickel — which is key to the energy transition due to its use in electric vehicles — are being pursued by countries that are “often better placed than Australia,” Slattery said, referring to costs and royalty regimes.

Nickel prices are at about half the level they were at in late 2022, thanks to a flood of supply from Indonesia, where Chinese companies have invested heavily in processing facilities.

“In this shifting world, there are many competitors aggressive in their pursuit of market share and the technology that unlocks a lower cost of supply,” Slattery added.

“The shift in the nickel market tells this story best in the recent past,” she said. “For BHP, this resulted in the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily suspend our Western Australia Nickel operations.”

Australian policymakers needed to ensure long-term competitiveness or risk losing out to countries with lower royalty regimes and lower mining costs, Slattery said. Her comments come as miners face pressure from unions seeking pay rises for Australian workers and changes to coal royalties in Queensland state hit revenue.

“The sugar hit of revenue won’t leave the state better off in the long run if investment is driven elsewhere,” she said.