BHP Group Limited (BHP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. An early rise this morning and coming through the traffic was hectic, but we're here. So it is a real celebration that you're holding it on our beautiful country known as Melbourne, but they are named Naarm. [Foreign Language] And as a descendant of the First Peoples of the Yalukit Willam of the Boonwurrung of the greater Kulin nation, I welcome you all here today and extend our hand in friendship to the friends and staff of BHP. Today, we acknowledge the traditional lands of the Eastern Kulin and the lands of our ancestors. The Boonwurrung who were part of a much larger nation known as the Kulin. This nation consisted of 5 major language groups. To our neighbors, the Woiwurrung, the Taungurung, the Djadjawurrung, and the Wadawurrung. Wurrung means your tongue, how you speak of country. It translates anyone entering our country should speak the languages as a sign of respect. It is now over 200 years since the Europeans first arrived in this area, we now call Melbourne. The sacred river, which flows past us is now called the Yarra, was known by the First peoples of Melbourne as the Birrarung, translates the river of mists. The Birrarung was not only a source of food and transport, it represented the lifeblood of the Kulin nation as it flowed out into our Great Bay known as Naarm. Today, we stand together on this special country and share respect for each other's cultures and heritage. And then recognizing and celebrating our shared history, we all have something to gain. In traditional society of the Kulin people, we were committed to the maintenance of our society by valuing the importance of learning, showing respect, celebrating life and respecting sacred ground. This importance of learning or what we -- the word [Foreign Language] is that deep knowledge, Deep Time. It was that transmission of knowledge and understanding that ensured our culture survived. This commitment to learning has been a part of every generation since time began. And it's one of the reasons why we are still strong today showing respect [indiscernible]. In our traditions, visitors are always welcome, but they are required to show respects to the [ Wurrunggi Biik ], the laws of the country. This is the same way. We show respect to each other's cultures or religious or spiritual beliefs today. And we are here to celebrate your AGM. It's about celebrating life. The celebration of arrival of new children, the coming of our 6 seasons, the visiting of the neighboring clans was very much an important part of our traditional life. And today, Melbourne not only represents one of the most important places for the celebration of contemporary indigenous arts and culture, it also prides itself on the cultures of our multicultural and global societies. Respecting sacred ground or we call Parbyn-ata, Mother Earth. We should all acknowledge the sacred ground on which we stand. And Melbourne today is a host to many people from many different nations, and we still call upon them to continue respect sacred ground by understanding the history and the heritage of the First Peoples of the Kulin nation. And what we celebrate today through this gathering, all this sorry -- the BHP's AGM is about the importance of Melbourne's culture. And it is about that generosity. It still remains a very important part of your culture. And today, it is my hope that we can all take pride in our shared history and celebrate the strength of our great nations. And according to our traditions, our lands will always be protected by our creator, Bundjil, who travels as an eagle and by Waa who protects our waterways, travels as a crow. Bundjil taught, always welcome guests, but he required us to ask all guests to make a number of commitments or dhumbalis, not to harm our biik biik, not to harm -- that's our lands, not the harm our wurneet, waterways and particularly not harm Bundjil's children. And this commitment is made through an exchange of a small bough dipped in the water of the land. So once again, [Foreign Language]. Welcome to our beautiful home the lands of the 2 great bays. [Foreign Language] I am in your presence, and you are in mine.

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ross McEwan, and I'm your chair. Hello, and welcome to BHP's 2025 Annual General Meeting. Let me first thank N'Arwee't Professor, Carolyn Briggs, for that wonderful warm welcome to country. I would like to acknowledge that these other traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people, who have a deep connection to the lands and waterways of Melbourne, and we extend our respect to the Wurundjeri elders past and present, and welcome to all of our shareholders here today. We are delighted to be together in person in Melbourne today. We are very proud to be headquartered in Melbourne and to have a long connection with this great city. Our last Annual General Meeting held in Melbourne was in 2017. So it's great to be back. Today, I'm joined on stage by my fellow directors, including your Chief Executive, Mike Henry. And our General Counsel and Group Company Secretary, Stefanie Wilkinson. We also have our external auditors from Ernst & Young and our Chief Financial Officer, Vandita Pant in attendance as well as other members of our executive team. It is an honor and a privilege to chair my first BHP Group Limited AGM. Your board and I are excited about the future of this great company. And I also want to acknowledge the contribution of Mike predecessor, Ken MacKenzie, who led the Board as Chair for years and retired on the 31st of March 2025. I thank Ken for his outstanding service to the Board and BHP during his tenure. Ken leaves a lasting positive legacy at BHP. I can confirm that there is a quorum present. And as the time is shortly after 10 a.m. in Melbourne, we can now start the meeting. The notice of this Annual General Meeting was made available to shareholders on the 16th of September 2025, and I will take it as read. The poll is now open for all of the items to be considered at today's meeting, and you may now start casting your votes. I will also give you a warning before the end of the meeting so that you have the opportunity to cast your votes before voting closes. Our Group General Counsel and Group Company Secretary, Stefanie Wilkinson will outline the procedures for voting at today's AGM a little bit later in the meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, as I've said, it is a pleasure to be here in Melbourne, the home of BHP's global headquarters and my adopted hometown for the last 6 years. Today's AGM is an important opportunity for our shareholders to ask questions about BHP's business and our performance. I met with a number of retail shareholders in London a few weeks ago, and we had a great discussion about BHP strategy, commodity focus, operational performance and the growth plans of the business. I hope we can discuss similar topics today in a very open way. It is an enormous honor to address you as BHP's Chair for the first time in this 140th year. It's amazing to think that it all began with a rough outcrop of rock amid a huge expanse of flat, dry land in the outback of Australia. And it was discovered by a small group of farmhands and pastoralists armed with a little more than a geology guidebook and a hunch that there just might be some value under their feet. In fact, what they pegged out was a remarkable resource of lead, zinc and silver among the greatest in the world. And realizing the potential of this metal ore wasn't easy. It took vision, it took perseverance and skill. And it took problem solvers and at their core, that's what our founding members were. Problem solvers willing to tackle a new frontier with a conviction that they would find a way through and a better path forward. And in preparing today, I thought I might just draw on some inspiration from those pioneers and where better to start than with BHP's then Chair, Arthur Blackwood, shared at our very first shareholder meeting held in this city on the 15th of December 1885. It was short. You'd love this one. Just 829 words, but it revealed a company with bold ambitions and extraordinary grid, a company chasing opportunities on a scale hard to fathom. And a company prepared to move fast and make it happen, investing in two 30-tonne smelters from Nevada in the U.S. to process ore at Broken Hill. Sourcing 1,000 tonnes of the world's best coking coal from Durham County in the U.K. to fuel them. And working to source the mine's water supply in the arid Australian outback. Through all of this, you can sense the relentless drive to do better and to be better. It's a spirit, I think Blackwood would recognize is alive and well at BHP today. I know because I've seen it on my visits to our assets and offices around the world. And it all starts with our culture and our collective commitment to keeping each other safe. It's a high-performance culture. And it's a big part of that is the effort applied to making the workplace safer every day. That effort is consistent across our global operations. And I've seen -- been delighted to see safety is taken so seriously at BHP and is supported by everyone from the Board to our mining operations. For 140 years, BHP has been deeply woven into the fabric of Australia. From that proud Australian heritage, a truly global company has been born. And it's lifetime, BHP has operated from the heights of the Atacama desert to the ultra deep of the Gulf of Mexico. In the heat of the Pilbara and soon in the stunning cold of the Canadian Prairies. The enduring support of shareholders, like all of you here joining us today has been central to that success story. We know you depend on us to grow and safeguard your investment and in many cases, your retirement funds. We know also that you have other choices to invest in our other companies and ours. And we take that responsibility seriously. And just as you, as shareholders, rightly consider what is the best use of your money and where it will generate the most value for you so must we. We have a strong and embedded capital allocation framework to guide us. That helps maintain a healthy balance of financial strength, shareholder returns and investment in the long-term growth of the business. This is a company that has refined its strategy and it knows its purpose. It has a mix of assets and commodities focused on today and on the future, and it operates these assets exceptionally well. That is a great position to be in and a great position to grow from. And the Board and I support BHP's ambitions for high-quality growth that drives value. And with the opportunities in front of us, our options are many. We are a global allocator of capital. Each option must compete with every dollar we invest. That drives sensible investment decisions, and ensures every project is focused on generating returns. The decisions we make can define the company for decades. We made big calls when we have to, like we have for 140 years. Making those big calls means identifying the conditions for success. What to produce, where to explore and develop and increasingly the impact of government policy. This is a competitive sector. As a company, we work hard to get better every day. We invest in our people, our technology and our assets to improve our competitive position. It's the way you win in tough, contested global markets. The same principle is also true for nations. Increasingly, nations around the world are competing for global resource investment. This is about economic benefits, and it's also about national security and resilient supply chains. Like other investors, we're also keen to see industry and government pulling together in the same direction. So nations must also be on the front foot, unlocking approvals to accelerate significant projects, delivering abundant, affordable, reliable energy while moving towards net zero, accelerating automation and artificial intelligence, building and supporting a globally competitive workforce and of course, stable fiscal settings to underpin productivity and to reward investment. The nations that get this mix right will benefit the most. Being globally competitive on these measures is clearly critical to attract investment for companies like BHP, but it's also critical for nations to raise living standards and for our future generations. Part of BHP's competitive advantage is how we work with others to create social value. It drives better business decisions and better business outcomes. We are a big company, which means an outsized ability to create mutual benefit. That can take many forms. Increasing certainty for local suppliers who invest in and expand their business and, in turn, strengthening our supply chains, partnering with communities to protect the natural environments we work in or being positive contributors in towns our workforce and their families live in. Creating social value opens doors for BHP. It helps us to attract the best talent. It helps make us a partner of choice for suppliers, peers and governments and it helps to build community trust that is fundamental to the success of the resource projects. Ultimately, this approach allows BHP to stay true to its purpose to bring people and resources together to build a better world. The entire company is pulling in the same direction on everything from safety to social value to operational excellence and to the outcomes as our shareholder returns. We know that dividends are important, particularly to our hundreds of thousands of retail shareholders. Our policy is to pay our shareholders at least 50% of our underlying attributable profit at every financial reporting period. This year, we determined a 60% payout ratio for our final dividend for the full year, making that USD 5.6 billion paid in dividends. This is a mark of our confidence in the strength of our business and a determination to deliver value to you, our shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a company in strong health and with an extremely bright future. It is led by a strong, high-performing CEO and executive team. Its competitive advantage, it's culture, strategy, assets and a strong pipeline for growth should give you confidence in your investment with us. I thank you for being part of BHP's history and also its future. It is now my great pleasure to hand over to your CEO, Mike Henry. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Ross, and good morning, everyone. It's indeed a pleasure to be here today in Melbourne. Financial year 2025 was a good one for BHP. We delivered strong operational and financial performance, and we continued to build our growth pipeline for the future. Most importantly, we delivered these results safely. Our key safety indicators moved in the right direction. And over the past 5 years, we've achieved a 63% reduction in high potential injury frequency. And these are incidents where a team member has been injured, even if only in a minor way. But which could potentially have caused the fatality. The investments that we've made in the Fatality Elimination Program, our commitment to Field Leadership and the improvements our teams drive every day through the BHP operating system have all contributed to these results. During the financial year, we also achieved gender balance within our global employee base. This is an ambition that we first set out in 2016, and we did so at that time because our experience has shown us that a more inclusive, collaborative culture contributes to a safer, more productive and more reliable BHP. And indeed, we've seen BHP's operational performance improve markedly since 2016. Ultimately, safety and productivity drive shareholder value. Now earlier, Ross reflected on our 140-year history and how it all began. And as I reflect on this, I'm reminded of the many reinventions BHP has undergone since 1885. And how that continues today as we execute our clear and simple strategy. As we look to the coming decades, we see a growing and more urbanized population to serve. A shift in the world's energy mix to sources that are less carbon-intensive, but more copper intensive, increasing demand for more sustainable food production, which will require more fertilizers like potash. And growth in artificial intelligence, which is data, energy and copper hungry. The commodities that we've chosen to pursue are all in the highly attractive -- are all highly attractive in that future. We own world-class assets that are large, long life, low cost and with options to grow. We operate them excellently to generate maximum possible value from the capital we have invested on behalf of shareholders. And we bring a differentiated approach to creating social value with those around us. Our operational and financial results continue to prove the value of this strategy. We had record production this year at Western Australian iron ore, which has been the lowest cost major iron ore producer in the world for a sixth straight year. We had record overall copper production, which we've grown now by 28% over the past 3 years, and that growth is the largest absolute copper growth over that time frame of any major miner globally. Our operational performance underpinned another strong financial year. We returned 20.6% on capital employed with a very healthy underlying margin of 53% on our earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA. All told, we contributed almost USD 47 billion to the economies we operate in through wages, taxes, royalties, community contributions and payments to suppliers and shareholders. About $10 billion of that was in taxes and royalties, which helped to fund schools, hospitals and roads. That's an effective tax rate of about 45%. This year's USD 5.6 billion in dividends means that over the past 10 years, BHP has returned over USD 100 billion to shareholders. Our plans seek to continue those healthy shareholder returns. We have strong growth options across our existing operations and in new places. We've also reshaped our portfolio to include a much greater exposure to copper. This year, 45% of our EBITDA came from copper, more than double where it was 5 years ago. And while we're already the largest producer of copper in the world, we're pursuing more growth. We have options to grow at our world-class copper basins in South Australia and Chile. We also have our Vicuna joint venture, which holds some exceptional copper deposits in Argentina, and we own 45% of Resolution Copper in Arizona. A project which could supply 25% of the copper needs of the United States. And of course, we're also entering a new commodity in potash, and construction continues at our Jansen potash project in Canada. For Stage 1, we've announced an updated cost estimate and have said that our forecast for first production will revert to the original schedule of mid-2027. Jansen is going to be another great BHP business, and it will deliver value to shareholders for a very long time. With the suite of potash and copper growth options at our disposal, we can deliberately and strategically choose how and where we grow to create value for shareholders. And as Ross mentioned, those projects compete against each other for capital. We're in uncertain times. But amid all that uncertainty, there are growing opportunities. Leaders around the world increasingly understand mining's value when it comes to economic development and its importance to national security. And more countries are sharpening their policy settings to attract mining capital and projects. And this is good news for BHP because we have attractive options in many jurisdictions. For example, in South America, the Argentinian government has established what's known as the RIGI scheme, which incentivizes large investments. In North America, both the United States and Canada governments have established initiatives to speed up permitting of nation-building projects that underpin productivity and prosperity. There are also some encouraging signs in the discussions around productivity and investment attraction here in Australia as well. In particular, we welcome the strong signals from the Australian government in respect of proposed reforms to environmental laws and permitting. We also appreciate the support we see for mining investment from the Western Australian and South Australian governments. But the pace of reform is moving even faster in other countries. Australia can't afford to be flat-footed in the race for global investment. Every aspect of Australia's competitiveness from labor productivity to the time and cost of construction to royalties and taxes must be examined against competing investment destinations. Energy policy needs to be a focus with electricity costs in Australia 2 or more times higher than Canada, Indonesia and other countries and 50% to 100% higher than the U.S. A clear-eyed view of how Australia wants to compete in this shifting global landscape is the starting point for being in the contest at all. For BHP, our task is clear. We want to bring to market more of the commodities the world needs. We want to do so safely, efficiently and responsibly. And in doing so, we will continue to create value for you, our shareholders. We have truly world-class assets and we're building more. And we have a global workforce whose character and capability delivers exceptional results time and again. This allows us to deliver industry-leading margins, high returns and funds for our future growth. And that's a unique combination that underpins our strength, consistency and resilience through the cycle. BHP stands apart as the world's leading diversified mining company, our scale, operational excellence and disciplined capital allocation our track record of responsible stewardship, our pipeline of world-class copper and potash growth projects are a unique mix. And I'm confident that BHP is positioned to deliver value and growth for you in the years ahead and that the next 140 years in the company's history can be just as successful as the first. Thank you for your continued support.

Thank you, Mike. I would now like to ask our Group General Counsel and Group Company Secretary, Stefanie Wilkinson, to outline the procedures for voting at today's AGM.

Thank you, Ross and hello, everyone. I will now run through the procedural aspects of today's meeting. Voting on all items today will occur by a poll. On a poll, each shareholder attending or present by proxy, attorney or corporate representative has one vote for every share held. If you are eligible to vote, you can use your own device to vote by scanning the QR code on your voting card. The resolutions will then be displayed on your screen. To cast your vote, simply select for, against or abstain underneath each resolution. A tick will appear to confirm receipt of your vote. To change your vote, select click here to change your vote and select a different option. You may change your vote at any stage until the poll closes. If you experience any difficulties, Computershare representatives are on hand at the back of the room to provide assistance. Alternatively, please complete the voting instructions on the back of your voting card and place it in one of the available voting boxes. The Chair has opened the poll and you can vote at any time. You do not need to wait for the resolution to be discussed before casting your vote. Results of the voting will be announced to the stock exchanges shortly after the conclusion of today's meeting and will also be published on our website. Tim Heughan from Computershare has been appointed Returning Officer for the meeting and will scrutineer the vote. Turning to the items of business in the Notice of Meeting. All items 1 to 11 in the notice are endorsed by your Board, and the Board recommends that you vote in favor of them. We will ensure that there is a reasonable opportunity for shareholders as a whole to ask questions or make comments at today's meeting. However, we may not be able to answer every question or address every comment received. If you would like to ask a question today, please register to ask the question, at the registration point outside the main room. Please provide your name, together with the nature of your question to the attendant. When it is time to ask a question an attendant we'll let you know and come to the microphone. To ensure that shareholders as a whole have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at today's meeting, we ask that you respect the rights of others in the room and limit your questions to 2 questions and your comments to no more than 1 or 2 minutes. The question registration point will remain open throughout the meeting if you wish to register to ask a question. Thank you, Ross.

Thank you, Stefanie. Item 1 of today's business is to consider the financial statements and reports from the directors and auditor for the year ended 30 June 2025. Shareholders are not required to vote on this item, but you may ask questions or make comments. If your question relates to director reelections or executive remuneration you'll have the opportunity to ask your questions when we come to those items. I'll now take questions and comments on item 1 from the floor. We will do our best to get to as many of the questions and comments as possible. And as Stefanie said earlier, to ensure shareholders as a whole have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at today's meeting, please limit the number of questions to 2 and comments to no more than 1 or 2 minutes. I ask shareholders and guests are courteous and respectful to each other. We'll move to the microphone to take the first question. Microphone 2.

Chair, I would like to introduce [ Duncan Seddon ] from ASA.

Thank you, Mr. Seddon.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for meeting with us prior. And as you know, we kind of have a large contingency of retail shareholders who we represent, who are very interested in dividends and ongoing dividends. The question is, there's been some speculation in recent times of an introduction of a turnover tax to help the government come out of the doo-doo which they've got themselves into. And I would like to ask specifically what would this impact of a turnover tax beyond BHP and the mining industry in general. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Seddon. I think you're referring to the Australian Productivity Commission proposal to introduce a net cash flow tax that has been put forward as the tax you were describing. Look, I won't comment on the proposal specifically because I think a number of options were put forward, but that was certainly one of them. But what's important in tax policy is the balance between the returns to the government and the need for incentives to actually invest in this country. And mining is a capital-intensive sector, projects that need upfront investments and decades to actually get paid back on them. So investment typically flows to projects where returns are most competitive. Tax policy settings are internationally competitive. They have to be internationally competitive, and they have to be stable and they are critical to attract global investment capital into Australia, including our investment. Look, I'm proud of the contribution that we make on an economic basis, and Mike talked about those in some of his entry. And over the last decade, nearly USD 100 billion globally in taxes, royalties and other payments. All I'd say is we just need to remain competitive to attract the investment into Australia. And at the moment, even on the current corporate tax rate, we're probably one of the most expensive corporate tax rates in the developed countries. Thank you for your question, Mr. Seddon. Microphone 2.

Chair. I would like to reintroduce Duncan Seddon from ASA.

Thank you again, Mr. Seddon.

Thank you. We've seen in recent years, the Chinese for one of the better phrase, essentially destroy our nickel division. We were very disappointed to read in the annual report, the very poor returns that we're getting in our coal division, particularly the BMA operations. And essentially -- this was popped down to essentially excessive usury style of resources tax. Can they -- would you comment on what conversations you've been having with the Queensland government and the coal industry at large in the Queensland to actually get some relief from this tax?

Thank you, Mr. Seddon, I'll do the first introductory piece on that and then pass over to Mike on the specific Queensland royalties. And as I said, tax positions actually need to be competitive globally for an organization such as ourselves. In BMA, we do have some difficulties and as has been written up in the newspaper. And I think, Mike, at the half year results showed the position there. Last year -- just so shareholders are aware of this, last year we paid in tax and royalties on BMA, which is the steelmaking coal business in Queensland, $1.6 billion. We -- you shareholders made $200 million. And I think the actual balance between what we pay and what we make isn't working on behalf of that business, and it's a great business. and steelmaking coal is an essential commodity that is needed worldwide to actually build infrastructure. So it's really important to get the tax settings right. And we've been pretty clear that on that basis, we can't invest in that business, the capital -- your capital needs to go somewhere else. So that's the overlying position or underlying position we have on BMA, the Queensland business. And Mike hand over to you on any other comments you'd like to make on it.

Thank you, Chair, and coming back to Mr. Seddon's question about kind of what engagement is happening. That's happening both directly and an industry level with the Queensland government. It has been since this change was first made. And the ask that we've put forward, and I know many of our peers in the sector agree with, is a very simple one, and that is that Queensland bring its taxes and royalties in line with our competitor countries around the world. And I think that's pretty sensible. As the chair indicated, we're currently paying 8x more in royalties than we're generating in profit. We only had a 1% return on capital employed this past year, which I know none of you would find acceptable. And we're paying $0.67 on every dollar in taxes and royalties. And that's simply not sustainable. Government inaction is having real impacts on regional jobs and towns. And without change, inevitably, there's going to be more difficult decisions that need to be made.

Thank you, Mr. Seddon. Microphone 2.

Chair. I would like to reintroduce Duncan Seddon from ASA.

Thank you, Mr. Seddon. You've just broken the rule of two, haven't you, but that's okay. Thank you for your question.

I've got a few more.

I thought you might. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes. essentially, this has to do with the iron ore business and ask you to comment as much as you can on what's going on in the Pilbara with regard to BHP iron ore fines and the sale of these into China, and essentially indicated embargo, which is widely reported in the press. And as a kind of a bit of a follow-up really for our information, the company has essentially all its accounts in U.S. dollars. May we ask, please, how much of our product is actually sold in another currency, particularly Chinese currency?

Thank you, Mr. Seddon. Look, you're quite right, there's very limited I can say on this. We are in commercial negotiations, and we won't be commenting on any of the specifics. And that's exactly as you would expect. We did release our Q1 operational review, just this last Tuesday, and our quarter 1 iron ore sales were broadly in line with the prior year. And BHP sells and ships iron ore products via different commercial distribution channels, and we'll continue to optimize those distribution channels to support product placement. . The only other point I'd make on this is we've had relationships in China now for decades. And we have a pretty good working relationship, but this is a commercial negotiation that's going on as it does every year. On your comments regarding currencies other than U.S., it will probably be less than 10%. There's done in a non-U.S. currency, and I'll just confirm that, Mike?

So that's correct, Chair. And it's important to be aware of the fact that one of the things that drives sales in different currencies are our China portside iron ore sales. And so it's quite sensible that we -- when we, as BHP have imported iron ore into China, and we're selling it to our steel mills customer front port side in China, those sales would be denominated in RMB. It's a pretty standard industry practice. Both ourselves and our competitors do this. And that's a big portion of the numbers that the Chair mentioned.

Thank you, Mr. Seddon. Microphone #1.

Chair, I would like to introduce John [ Possel ].

Look, I'm just a shareholder. But in recent times, we've been watching our Prime Minister and Mr. Trump get together and do a lot of talking particularly about a lot of money and particularly something that should be interested, I suppose, by BHP. I wondered if someone could perhaps comment on the possibilities for BHP either positively or negatively for us over this scenario or is it too early? Because basically, people like myself are interested in the possible, I guess, investments in the company further. And I guess I'd just like to comment -- get some comments from someone about what's happening and perhaps the implication with China?

Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Possel. Look, we are actually seeing an increasing focus on critical minerals around the world, the supply and the supply chains associated with those. And this shows a growing understanding of the critical minerals role in supporting national security and the big energy transition and also the big technology developments that are going on around the world. And there's a clear recognition of the significant economic opportunity that investment and resource projects can bring. I think a little bit early to actually see the outcomes of the -- what we see as a good meeting between the Prime Minister of Australia and the President of the United States, but I think it was a very good meeting to start those conversations. And -- but only a few of those, there's not many resources that we would play in that critically and we are very large players, as you know, in copper, iron ore, steelmaking coal, coal and potash. So those are the resources. And of course, copper is becoming one of those quite critical resources. Mike, there may be some instance you've been recently in the United States and seen Mr. Trump. Are there any questions further things on the relationship between Australia and the U.S.?

Perhaps, Chair, the only other thing I would say that Australia is quite well positioned to support the U.S. as the U.S. tries to derisk its critical mineral supply chains, obviously, Australia being a resource-rich country and there being 110 years of the U.S.-Australia alliance to underpin the sorts of discussions that we saw take place this week between the Prime Minister and the U.S. President. Having had the opportunity alongside my peer at Rio Tinto for an Oval Office meeting with the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Interior, Burgum, I was impressed on just how fierce the focus is in the U.S. on getting more metals and minerals facilities or mines and processing facilities up and going in the U.S. Obviously, as I mentioned earlier in my speech, we have an opportunity with the Resolution project in Arizona, very large copper deposit, potential to develop that in the coming years, and that could supply 25% of the U.S.'s copper demand for a very long time. And so we do have a presence there. We'd love to be able to grow that presence over time. But coming back to Mr. Possel's question about the specific agreement, I think we should see it as symbolically significant in that it goes to just how seriously this issue is being taken and the position that Australia can play in supporting the U.S.'s needs.

Microphone 2.

Chair. I would like to introduce [ Graham Thompson ].

Mr. Thompson.

My questions are relatively simple one. I have raised this before. You talk -- both you and Mike talked about operational performance. My question is about the operational performance of the date of payment of the dividend. Now you'll all appreciate that the data payment to the dividend is the date at which the start of the next day, you get the money, the cash in your pocket or at least in your bank. And if you look at performance in recent years, the performance of the payment of the dividend jumps around quite a lot. Some companies, I would say, very good companies managed to pay the dividend within a day or two of each other, notwithstanding leap years or whatever. Now we were told when the assets were ex'd out of BHP to create what became South32. It was all about simplification. It doesn't seem to have helped the payment of the date of the dividend. So if -- let me just give you a few examples. The dividend payment in 2024 was the 3rd of October. The dividend this year was the 25th of September, more than a week difference. If you go back many years, you get back to 2003 when the dividend was paid on the 3rd of July. Now I think the reason that it's now paid in September, relates, I think, at that time to the dual listing in London and the different financial years of Australia and the U.K. So we can't go back to that best performance but the best performance in recent years has been the 21st of September. So please, Chair, can you really try harder, you get the operational part of the business performing and challenge -- meeting challenges. How about the financial and governance part of the company? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson, and I hear the chuckles in the room. So thank you very much. It's obviously a topic that retirees is very important. The actual date of the dividend actually relates back to when we actually do the results of the organization. So as the date of the results change, so will the date of the dividend, that's why you'll get a bit of a variation, I suspect, and you're quite right, when we came off the dual listing, the date of results would have changed as well and we went down to the single listing. Look, all I can say is we'll do our best. But right now, about that, I think it's about a 60-day difference is where we're at. And -- but it does relate to when we actually announce our results.

Continuous improvement.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Thompson. Microphone 1.

Chair, I would like to introduce Heather Winter. Ms. Winter, thank you for joining us.

Yes, as I walked into this meeting today, I was met by protesters dressed in koala bear suits and they gave me a chocolate caramel bear. Mr. Ross McEwan, thank you for your outline of BHP's values as established by Blackwood since 1885, to promote a culture of connection, inclusivity and social value. Neutral benefits partnering with communities, to protect environment, working with aboriginal organizations in partnership, which I welcome, building community trust. To bring people and resources together and building social value and the culture of not only keeping humans safe, but animal and plant life, too. It's important that, especially in climate change today that that's been built into your structure. Can you -- and that in defending the environment, we need to listen to in that inclusivity include those discussions. Can you please identify the area which BHP are targeting that concerns the habitat of koala bears and what environmental sustainability report government environmental reform and can BHP, you said that you pledged a percentage of $10 billion towards schools, which I welcome. Can there be a pledge towards making sure the koala habitat is protected in future expansion of [ Kulin ], Queensland. As BHP decision-makers and shareholders we don't want to be remembered for extinctions. And just one other concern about AI, we do know that data centers, I think America are planning to put data centers here in Australia, and that that's going to consume a lot of energy. And I am quite concerned about that because Australian energy prices are going up and up and up. And with these trades of fueling data centers, are we going to be the second rate citizens in our own country paying extraordinary amounts for energy and not only that, seeing our own environment, which means a lot to us in terms of koala bears, an icon of this country, watching them being extinguished. Thank you very much.

No. Thank you, Ms. Winters, for your question. There's a lot in that question. So we'll try and take it in several steps, but thank you very much, and thank you for your care and concern about the environment because it's vitally important. And the framework, the social framework that the organization set up back in 2022 took into consideration a lot of the points that you were making there. Decarbonization, the environment we operate in, which includes the likes of the habitat we have, our indigenous partnerships, the workforce, our communities and just our supply chain. So a lot of what you picked -- you talked about was picked up in our social framework and our decision-making when it comes to -- through Mike's team and then to the Board actually has the social framework built into it as well. So I can tell you that, that is taken seriously at the very highest level and also around how we make our decisions. Last year, we set out our position around how do we help with the decarbonization. And we set a target that the shareholders last year agreed to, which was a 30% reduction and our carbon footprint from the year 2020, which is the base year to 2030. And that's a big commitment to take 30% out of our operation, particularly when it's growing. And we're absolutely committed to it. And to date, we are on target to hit that -- we're on target to get to those levels. And I think that's really important around what you're talking about there. But also around how we regenerate the land that we've operated on as well. And the plans that we have as we leave parts of a mine and move forward what do we leave behind? So we leave exactly what you're talking around the vegetation so that we do encourage the animal community into those areas and leave a better place for our -- the communities that are left. So a lot of what you're talking about is there. All right just move on to -- and we're committed to that with our plan, and that plan we are absolutely on track for. The piece around artificial intelligence. It is a growing topic. It's -- you couldn't go a newspaper article today with -- newspaper today without seeing something talk about artificial intelligence. And you are right, the energy supply required in that is getting larger and larger, and these data centers are being built. Therefore, the energy supply must also keep up with that. And the government certainly got a policy of renewables and so do we. And you see a lot of our targets to get to our 2030 emission targets is around much more renewable energy sources because that's one of the big areas of carbon footprint for us. And a lot of our move to that 2030 target will take in consideration our own or working with partners, power sources that look after our needs, but also sometimes the communities we operate in. So you're quite right, but it is around the transition. And that transition needs to be very deliberate, otherwise, prices of energy, as you have seen, and we as a business have seen continue to rise. And that's the dilemma. It's how do you actually build new sources at the same time as taking out the old sources to reduce the carbon footprint. It's a delicate balance and one we're working on as an organization within our own plans. Great question. Thank you very much for sharing your view. Thank you. Microphone 2.

Chair, I would like to introduce [ Don Walker ].

Mr. Walker.

The Samarco court case in the U.K., what stage is it up to now, please? Out of the 700,000 people affected by the dam bust, how many have been fully compensated? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Walker. If I may, for the full audience, just give everybody an update on Samarco, if that's okay. So I think that's a very relevant question to all and has been a big topic for us for the last 10 years. So before I get to your specific question, I just might just say a few words about the issue in general, if that's okay. . First off, let's be very clear, the Samarco dam failure was a tragedy, and we're deeply sorry for the impacts that has caused. I visited the Mariana region this year with my fellow Director, Michelle Hinchliffe and we visited the affected communities. We spent time with the community members, visited homes, and we did hear their stories firsthand. And I saw firsthand the progress has been made in the ground -- on the ground in Brazil across 3 key areas. First off is environmental remediation, the second is community resettlement and the third one is the point you're raising is around compensation. The environmental remediation has been substantially complete for some time now. And the impact of river banks and the flood plains of the Doce River have been revegetated. New water treatment and sewage treatment facilities have been improved, water quality and the river base and beyond the historic quality levels. There's also been significant progress in the community resettlement, 98%. So it comes to one of your questions. 98% of the resettlement cases are finalized and over 370 families have the keys to their brand-new homes and their lovely homes. The third area is compensation. As at the 31st of August, approximately USD 5.6 billion has been paid in compensation and financial aid since the 2015 dam failure, and it covers approximately 537,000 people. It's a big number. Outside of Brazil, you have seen news about the group action in the U.K., the case you referred to, Mr. Walker. And it's being bought by a specialist class action law firm. The U.K. action overlaps with existing compensation processes in Brazil, and we will continue to defend against those claims. The U.K. action is currently ongoing in the U.K. courts, but it would be just totally inappropriate for me to commit any further. Can I just finish where I started, the Samarco dam failure was a tragedy and we're deeply sorry for the impacts that has caused. Look, we cannot change the tragedy and the event of the 5th of November 2015. But as we get to the tenth anniversary of this tragedy, we can continue to strive to do what's right for the people, the community and the environments who have been deeply affected by it. So 537,000 people that have received compensation, 2 villages built, with 98% of the occupants in their homes with the little communities operating again, including schools and including the community facilities. So still a little way to go, but we're certainly doing our best. But thank you.

Mr. Chairman, 537,000, and that will be -- that's the final number?

It's the number that have gone through the process at this stage, and it's been encapsulating all of those in the communities. And we worked with the Brazilian government on the program to make sure that we were capturing all of those involved. There will still be some that will need to be looked after, but we also do have a provision for that as well in the accounts.

Mr. Chairman, I asked -- how -- what stage is a poor case up to? Is it a more way to go? Or is it going to be finished soon?

Yes. As I said, it's in the courts right now, and it's in the judge's hands, so I'd rather not say anything more on that case. Thank you very much. .

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Microphone 1.

Chair, I would like to introduce Crystal Charles.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak. I just have 2 questions in regards to BHP's strategic decision-making and involving landscape. It is my understanding that BHP's Climate Transition Action Plan places a strong emphasis on carbon capture and storage as a key decarbonization strategy for steelmaking. However, there are still no commercial grade carbon capture projects operating for blast furnaces and pilot projects capture only a small share of emissions. Independent analyses indicate that BHP's climate scenario lies on 5 greater carbon capture deployment when credible global pathways like the IEA's net zero scenario. Now my question is that given the carbon capture remains unproven and costly in 2025 still. Could the Board clarify why it continues to prioritize carbon capture over more mature and scalable low carbon steel technologies, such as electric smelting and hydrogen-based direct reduction?

Thank you very much for your question. I will actually hand this one over to our CEO, who is well versed on this absolute topic.

So thank you for the question. I would put it -- I would phrase it slightly differently in that obviously, BHP is no longer a steelmaker. And so what we need to consider is how can we go about working with our steel making customers to support their efforts around decarbonization. And one of the things that they've consistently fed back to us is that for them, CCUS is one of the potential avenues that they're pursuing, but it's not limited to that. So we're working with the steelmakers on use of hydrogen in the blast furnace. We're working specifically on electric smelter furnace, which you mentioned, in fact, BHP has been a key sponsor of this technology, and we're investing with others in a pilot plant in Western Australia, specifically to demonstrate the veracity of that technology for hopeful uptake then by steel mills. And through our ventures arm, we've also invested in breakthrough technologies predominantly in the U.S. So we are engaged on the full gamut of potential decarbonization approaches for the steel industry that will play out over different time frames. And I do believe that there will be a transition that occurs over time and still the question is how quickly does that occur? And what these steel mills do in the intervening period. And our view is that steel mills remain committed to decarbonization. But in order to do so in the near to medium term, they will achieve that through more efficient blast furnace operations and that will require higher quality inputs. And that's why we've chosen to retain only the best of the best quality steelmaking coals even as we've chosen to step out of the others. But we're well engaged with steelmakers around the world on a range of steelmaking decarbonization technologies including providing both funding for that and technical input.

Do you think the carbon capture and storage will play a significant role in the long term?

Again, caveating it only with the BHP not being a steelmaker in its own right. The feedback that we get from our steelmaking customers that they see CCUS as being -- is playing a role longer term. But I don't think anybody out there is saying that it's the only solution to decarbonization of the steel sector, and it's likely to be a myriad of different technologies that get deployed with CCUS being but one of them. There will be a transition of blast furnace into ESF or green DRI and so on. And then hopefully, over a longer-term horizon, some of these true breakthrough technologies that people are working on out there.

Understood. On to my second question, BHP often highlights the expansion of India's steel Industry as a driver of growing demand for Australian coking coal. However, despite India steel production rising by nearly 40% since 2021, BHP exports of Australian coking coal to India has dropped by over a 1/3 during the same period. Given the urgent need to decarbonize the steel value chain, as we have said, will the Board commit to a managed reduction of coking coal production that aligns with declining demand and supports BHP's goal of achieving net zero by 2050?

I'm happy to answer this. Thank you for your second question. Can I -- maybe if I just start with some comments around that. We've clearly set out our path until 2030 of reducing our carbon footprint by 30%. And that takes into consideration all of our existing operations, the growth path for them and any new operations that we bring into play. So within that framework, we want to grow our business, but it is within the framework of reducing our carbon footprint by that 30%. Steelmaking coal in our mind is a certainly a commodity that is required by the world. And so -- and it is a big part of our operation. It is our BMA operation up in Queensland. We'd obviously like to make it much more profitable, but we'd also see that as part of the growth path of our business. On the other side of coal, which is energy coal, we've been very clear that we will be closing our business in New South Wales by June 2030. And I also want to be quite clear, that is for us on economic grounds, that mining process will not be as economic for us as we'd like it to be. Therefore, we will look to close that. But our steelmaking business is one that we believe is required internationally around the world. And countries like India and its development are certainly needing steelmaking coal of great quality. So we'd look to keep that business and trying to grow it as well.

It's just the Met coal for use around the world, it seems to be on the decline. So I'm just wondering if BHP has any intent on decreasing its output for coking coal?

Mike, if you want to make a comment on that one?

So Mr. Charles, I think perhaps the numbers that you're referring to are being impacted by the fact that we've had the size of our coal portfolio over the period in question. So if you think about what we've done in Queensland as we sold off the BMC 2 mines, we've sold off the Blackwater mine over that same time frame. And so the size of the pie for the coal that we're selling is reduced quite markedly. But at the same time, our coal sales in India from our remaining portfolio in proportionate terms remains very strong. And what we see around the world right now is the blast furnace steelmaking production still makes up about 70% of global steel production, and that requires coking coal in all instances. Our view is and our hope is that the steelmakers will look to reduce the emissions footprint from those blast furnaces through the -- through various technologies, including the ones that we're investing in. But also through the use of better inputs, which requires higher quality coking coal, which is the coal that we have. Now on the part of your question around growth plans in the coking coal division, we've been quite clear for a range of reasons, including the financial numbers that the Chair spoke about earlier. We are not looking to deploy any growth capital into our Queensland coal business for the foreseeable future.

Microphone 2.

Chair. I would like to introduce [ Sina Khatami ].

Mr. Khatami.

My question is about coal growth plans. And specifically, BHP has recently suspended operation at its Saraji South mines in Queensland referring to and cut 750 jobs across the Queensland and cited the Queensland government's royalty schemes as the main reason and further citing the scheme as the reason for pausing investment in coal growth in Queensland. However, it appears that the main underlying reasons would be actually rising labor cost, and lower coal prices and declining market for met coal as -- export as discussed with the previous question and not the royalty scheme. So my question would be how does BHP expect to be able to rein in production costs under these changed market conditions and specifically what coal price would we need to see before the company will invest in new production plans?

Thank you for the question. I go back to comments we made earlier, just about the economics of that business and both the CEO, and I gave you the understanding of what we were paying in royalties and tax, which is the big numbers. Yes, there has been labor cost increases. And of course, prices have come off a bit. But the key driver of that business and its lack of returns for shareholders is around the taxing and royalties. We just cannot run a business at 67% tax position. And expect to make money on that for our shareholders. So at 1% return, that's not getting investment. And that's the fundamental reason behind that. So yes, there have been increase in labor costs. There have been a drop off in the price, but the key driver of the reason we're making that [ call ] on that business is around the taxation. So that is the main driver for it.

And do you think tax and royalty scheme should be combined together? Because from memory, the royalty scheme is something about maybe 10% to 15% of the total cost and it actually has a bracket regime. So it seems to me that it's a bit different from the tax part of that. But I might be wrong?

Great question. Actually, in this, I think, magnificent little booklet to our team who put it together, it's fantastic. On the economic competition, actually pulls apart exactly the numbers you talked about. So probably worth having a look in there. But at the end of the day, tax and royalties do come together as tax payments to a state or federal government. And those numbers, as we've said in Queensland are just too high. . And therefore, just don't expect investment in those areas. Other areas of Australia, we're investing very heavily in, but that one is a real difficulty for us. So a really good little booklet, worthwhile having a look at the numbers for all shareholders. I think it isn't quite plain English and the numbers stand out. So it's worth having a look at. But thank you very much for your question. I appreciate it. Ask the second question as well.

Okay. I also have a second question. And I was wondering, given that many Queensland mines -- coal mines recently been closed, including the BHPs, appear to fit as a zombie mine pattern as some journalists may call it, which is essentially an asset that become uneconomic during outside prices spike and only restarted opportunistically given the volatility of the coal market and increasing risk of demand decline, as discussed, do you think BHP -- how does BHP ensure that investment in coal mines don't undermine its broader commitment for net zero and decarbonization as you go further.

Look, I'll pick it up on the total position for the business around our decarbonization position, which is the 30% reduction from 2020 to 2030. And it takes both our expansion in business, which uses more carbon and our reduction in businesses and the efforts that our team make to actually reduce carbon in existing businesses as well. On the New South Wales coal, it's an economic decision we've made to actually close that business down. And so that one will, of course, have a positive impact on our carbon position, but there are other parts of the business where we're expanding and growing, which will have a negative. But the outcome for us is to get a 30% reduction across our portfolio. And that's the way we measure it. And a lot of those actions our teams are having to take on finding new renewable energy sources, working very hard on how do we reduce the diesel utilization over time, much more difficult than we anticipated. There'll be lots of other actions that the team will take. So it's the net of all of those that we think about. You're talking about one asset, but we took -- look at them across the board.

Fair enough. And for your capital allocation, would you consider the risk of such coals as a stranded asset risk?

It depends on that asset like the New South Wales coal business, and we are closing that decision has been made. But on the other assets where we may put them into care and maintenance, they may be opened up at a later stage if the pricing changes or we can find different ways of using those resources and making them economic. So it just depends upon the asset, but the energy coal, the New South Wales we've made that determination. Thank you. Microphone 2. It's a popular microphone that one.

Chair, I would like to introduce Simon Livsey.

Yes. I've got an envelope here that says BHP contains important information regarding the '25 Annual General Meeting. I would like plain envelopes. I've got a neighbor that happens to just look at your mail, and she said to me the other day, how is the BHP shares going? It's not funny. It's -- she's got a problem. . Yes. And obviously, the Melbourne University for talk yesterday and Ed Hoby, the Department of AI has said there's a chip being made that uses 1% of the power that Google is using on their AI centers or whatever it is. So I don't think AI is going to be such a big problem in the future. That's it. Except that I'm not really happy with coming here and going through all that by the security that you've got?

Never mind Mr. Livsey. Unfortunately, it's the world we're living.

And -- I don't think other people have to do it. I don't know why you. You must think you're special or something?

I think you're special more than I. So but thank you very much. Not too sure about those envelopes or what we can do about your neighbor. Maybe the delivery of it online would probably be another option for you, but we'll have a look at whether we should or shouldn't put out with the branding on it. I quite like the branding. It's a good bit of advertising for us. On the technology, look, there will be new technologies that will make a difference. And I'm not aware of the little chip that makes a difference. But you can guarantee over the next decade, there will be some massive shifts in technology that will answer some of the big problems. And there is the opportunity for BHP. We have the commodities that actually are required by these great, big technology companies for the big transformations of the world. And also we haven't talked at all today about potash. That is another big opportunity for shareholders when that business gets up and going in '27, '28, because the world is not getting any bigger land-wise. You can be in Moscow and go to Mars, but the world is not getting any bigger, but the population is and therefore, productivity of that land is going to need potash. So I think we're in the right sectors. And I think those technologies will be requiring us to be actually supplying to them as well. Thank you very much. Have we got any further questions? If there are no further questions, we'll move on to the next item. The next 8 items relate to the reelection of your nonexecutive directors. At BHP, we undertake annual Director elections for all of our directors each year. And accordingly, all nonexecutive directors submit themselves for reelection. Are there any questions on director reelections and the items 2, 3 to #9, please? Okay, if there are no further questions on these items, the proxy shown on the screen are the proxy results for items #2 to #9. We will now move to item 10 and 11. These will be the last opportunity for questions. And if you'd like to ask a question, please register to ask the question at the registration point outside the main room. During the 2025 financial year, our People and Remuneration Committee continued to focus on remuneration approach that supports the group's global strategy enables us to attract, retain and motivate our global executive team. While incentivizing them to build long-term, sustainable and value-adding businesses for you, the shareholders. This is critical to ensuring the best outcomes for all BHP shareholders. Our remuneration framework has received strong support from our shareholders since it was introduced. In 2025, Christine O'Reilly, our People and Remuneration Committee Chair, met with shareholders and investors covering Australia, the U.K., the U.S. and Asia, representing a significant portion of our issued share capital. These discussions reinforce that the focus on our remuneration framework is on driving BHP's performance in the key areas of financial, safety and sustainability. Item 10 requires adoption of the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2025. Item 11 seeks to approval for equity awards to the CEO. This year, these awards are being made under the cash and deferred plan and the long-term incentive plan described in the remuneration framework. Are there any questions on items 10 or 11? Do we have any questions registered? If there are no further questions on these items shown on the screen of the proxy results for Items 10 and 11, this brings us to the end of our items of business. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending today and for your questions. They have been great and very focused on the business itself. We value your comments and your feedback. The poll will close in 5 minutes after the conclusion of this meeting. So if you haven't already done so, please complete your voting now. Results of the meeting will be announced to the stock exchange shortly after the conclusion of today's meeting and will be published on our website. We now invite you to join our Board and management team for refreshments and a great opportunity to ask any other questions and to meet the executive team and the Board. Ladies and gentlemen, I now declare the meeting closed, subject to finalization of the poll. Thank you very much for joining us today.