GOVERNANCE WATCH
By InsidEntity Editorial Desk · Sep 27, 2026 · 8 min read
Series 3 | 27 September 2026
One ordinary-looking number, taken apart until the number that matters is on the table.
Copper earned 48% more for BHP. The number underneath: BHP produced 3% less of it.
In the year to 30 June 2026, copper generated more than half of BHP’s Underlying EBITDA for the first time: US$18.2bn. A year earlier, iron ore was the larger business.
Underneath sits a smaller number. BHP produced 1,953kt of copper in FY2026, 3% less than the 2,017kt of FY2025. The copper business grew its earnings by 48% while producing less copper.
Three numbers, three different stories. 54% is copper’s share of the group’s earnings. −3% is what happened to the copper itself. US$4.5bn is the revenue BHP’s copper business earned from gold, silver and uranium.
At a glance
| The number | What it is |
|---|---|
| 54% | Copper’s share of Group Underlying EBITDA, FY2026 (45% in FY2025) |
| +48% and −3% | Copper EBITDA growth, and the change in copper production |
| US$4.5bn | By-product revenue from gold, silver and uranium, up 45% |
| US$1.18 → US$0.32 | Copper South Australia’s unit cost per pound after by-product credits; about US$3.79 before them |
The number
54%. Copper’s share of BHP’s Group Underlying EBITDA for FY2026, up from 45% in FY2025, as BHP states in its FY2026 results release (“Copper contributed 54% (FY25: 45%) of Group Underlying EBITDA”): US$18,187m from Copper, against US$14,529m from Iron Ore and US$832m from Coal. In BHP’s words: “This was the first year that the majority of Group Underlying EBITDA was generated from Copper.”
The question
If BHP’s copper business earned so much more, where did the increase come from?
A mine’s earnings can rise because it sells more metal, because the metal is worth more, or because it costs less to produce. A copper business has a fourth route: revenue from other metals produced alongside the copper.
Number 1: 48% more earnings from 3% less copper
| Copper segment | FY2025 | FY2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Underlying EBITDA, US$m | 12,326 | 18,187 | +48% |
| Revenue, US$m | 22,530 | 29,031 | +29% |
| Copper production, kt | 2,017 | 1,953 | −3% |
Source: BHP financial results for the year ended 30 June 2026.
Volume did not drive the result. Production fell at Escondida, down 3%, and at Spence, down 21%. Revenue rose 29% and EBITDA 48% on less copper, so the gain came from prices, by-products and costs, not from mining more. The copper segment’s EBITDA margin rose from 55% to 63% of revenue.
The group picture moved with it. In FY2025 iron ore produced US$14.4bn of EBITDA and copper US$12.3bn. In FY2026 iron ore was almost unchanged at US$14.5bn, and copper passed it.
Source: BHP financial results for the years ended 30 June 2025 and 2026.
Number 2: US$4.5bn, the metals that are not copper
BHP’s copper business also earns revenue from gold, silver and uranium. In FY2026 that meant 571koz of gold, 17.9Moz of silver and 3.6kt of uranium. BHP reports the revenue from these by-products at US$4.5bn, up 45% from US$3.1bn.
Set against the copper segment’s revenue of US$29.0bn, by-products were equivalent to about 15% of it, up from about 14%. The ratio is indicative: BHP’s by-product figure includes its share of the equity-accounted Antamina mine in Peru, which is not part of statutory copper segment revenue.
Number 3: US$0.32 a pound
BHP reports copper unit costs after deducting by-product credits. The more gold, silver and uranium a mine sells, and the higher their prices, the lower its reported cost of producing copper.
| Unit cost, US$ per pound | FY2025 | FY2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper South Australia | 1.18 | 0.32 | −73% |
| Escondida | 1.19 | 1.07 | −10% |
| Spence | 2.07 | 2.15 | +4% |
Copper South Australia’s unit cost fell 73%. BHP attributes the fall to “favourable gold, silver and uranium by-product credits, and inventory movements”. Its own reconciliation shows how.
| Copper South Australia, US$m | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Gross costs | 2,719 | 2,808 |
| Less: freight, royalties and other | (196) | (275) |
| Costs before by-product credits | 2,523 | 2,533 |
| Less: by-product credits | (1,682) | (2,316) |
| Net costs | 841 | 217 |
| Copper sales, Mlb | 713 | 669 |
| Cost before by-product credits, US$ per pound | 3.54 | 3.79 |
| By-product credits, US$ per pound | 2.36 | 3.46 |
| Unit cost, US$ per pound | 1.18 | 0.32 |
Freight, government royalties and a small employee-entitlements adjustment are combined. Per-pound lines are each US$m line divided by copper sales. Source: BHP Annual Report 2026, unit cost reconciliations (OFR 8, Non-IFRS information).
Source: BHP Annual Report 2026, unit cost reconciliations.
Costs before by-product credits were almost flat in dollars, US$2,533m against US$2,523m, but spread over 6% fewer pounds they rose from US$3.54 to US$3.79 a pound. By-product credits rose US$634m, or 38%, from US$2.36 to US$3.46 a pound. The credits account for the whole of the fall in unit cost, and more.
The US$0.32 is not what it costs to mine a pound of copper in South Australia. Before the gold, silver and uranium are credited, the figure is about US$3.79. That figure is not a pure copper cost either: it is the cost of running the whole polymetallic operation, gold, silver and uranium included, divided by the copper sold. BHP also cites inventory movements, which the reconciliation does not break out separately.
Number 4: the governance record beside the shift
The earnings mix changed in FY2026. Three further numbers sit alongside it: one tracks auditor tenure, one CEO succession, and one the gap between underlying and statutory profit.
The auditor: year seven. In August 2017, after a tender, BHP’s board selected EY as auditor “from the financial year beginning 1 July 2019”. EY’s appointment took effect on 7 November 2019, following KPMG’s resignation under UK and EU rules on auditor tenure; KPMG had audited BHP since 1996. FY2020 was EY’s first year, so FY2026 is its seventh. On InsidEntity’s published tenure clock, six to seven years scores 3.00. FY2027, EY’s eighth year, moves into the 8–9 year band at 2.00.
The CEO: from the copper side. Brandon Craig became chief executive on 1 July 2026 after serving as President Americas, with responsibility for BHP’s copper and potash growth portfolio across the Americas. BHP announced the succession on 18 March 2026. Mike Henry served to 30 June 2026 and supports the transition until 30 November 2026. Craig took office the day after FY2026 closed, so the results above were delivered under his predecessor; FY2027 is his first year. Ross McEwan chairs the board.
The statutory gap: US$3.4bn. BHP’s underlying attributable profit was US$13.2bn, up 30%. Its statutory profit attributable to shareholders was US$9.8bn, up 9%. The gap is BHP’s exceptional loss: a US$2.3bn impairment charge related to the Jansen potash project in Canada, and US$1.1bn “relating to Samarco dam failure impacts” from the 2015 collapse in Brazil. The Samarco provision still fell over the year, because payments made exceeded the charge.
Source: BHP financial results for the year ended 30 June 2026.
The ratings
On current inputs, BHP’s Company Risk Rating is 3.81 (Good) and its Financial Stability Rating is 2.7.
| CRR pillar | Score |
|---|---|
| Director Independence | 5.00 |
| Director Capacity | 2.23 |
| Auditor Independence | 3.00 |
| Shareholder Influence | 5.00 |
| Company Risk Rating | 3.81 |
The CRR is the average of the four pillar scores: (5.00 + 2.23 + 3.00 + 5.00) ÷ 4 = 3.81. Director Independence is carried at 5.00 as a placeholder until BHP’s directors complete InsidEntity’s independence questionnaires; it is not an assessment of the board.
Auditor Independence at 3.00 is EY’s seventh year, the band described above. On the same inputs, EY’s eighth year in FY2027 would take the pillar to 2.00 and the CRR to 3.56. Director Capacity at 2.23 is the lowest pillar: a board-level measure of how thinly directors’ commitments are spread, not a judgement on any individual.
The FSR is built on a rolling three-year window of audited full-year statements. BHP’s 2.7 uses FY2023 to FY2025. BHP’s audited FY2026 statements are now published in its Annual Report 2026, but the rating has not yet been rolled forward to include them, so the 2.7 describes the three financial years before copper passed half of BHP’s earnings.
The InsidEntity takeaway
The headline number is true, but incomplete. 54%, −3% and US$4.5bn are all accurate, and they describe different things.
Copper is now BHP’s largest earnings contributor. But its earnings rose on price, by-products and cost, not volume. At Copper South Australia, gold, silver and uranium credits did more than all of the work in the unit cost.
There is one more number behind the number: the 2.7 beside this article, which will move once FY2026 enters the window.
The number to watch next is copper production. It fell to 1,953kt in FY2026 while copper earnings rose 48%. BHP’s FY2027 results, the first under Brandon Craig, will show whether volume starts to carry some of that weight.
Independent research. Not financial advice. No allegation of wrongdoing is made against any individual or entity named.
Know more. Risk less. Decide better.
Sources: BHP financial results for the year ended 30 June 2026, exchange release, 18 August 2026, for segment EBITDA and revenue, production, by-product revenue and volumes, unit costs, underlying and statutory profit, and exceptional items; BHP results media release for the full year ended 30 June 2026 (“For the first time, Copper contributed more than half our Underlying EBITDA”); BHP Annual Report 2026, for the audited statements, the unit cost reconciliations (OFR 8, Non-IFRS information) and the auditor’s report; BHP, Brandon Craig to succeed Mike Henry as BHP CEO, 18 March 2026; BHP Form 20-F 2019 and 2019 Notice of Annual General Meeting, for the board’s selection of EY “from the financial year beginning 1 July 2019”; BHP change of auditor announcement under ASX Listing Rule 3.16.3, 7 November 2019; BHP Annual Report 2020, for EY’s first auditor’s report; Business & Accountancy Daily, Mining giant BHP switches audit to EY, for KPMG’s tenure from 1996.
Note on figures: Percentage changes are calculated from the US$m, kt and Mlb figures shown, not from rounded billion figures; the changes in the three-mine unit cost table use BHP’s reported per-pound costs. Per-pound costs divide the reconciliation’s US$m lines by copper sales in Mlb. Ratings are as read from the platform on 27 September 2026.