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Mining giant BHP Group flagged rising costs and delays at a giant potash project in Canada and said it may sell its Australian nickel operations, as it reported record annual iron ore and copper production.

The company said Friday it faces rising costs at the Jansen potash project in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, its only major development currently under construction.

The company said it is also reviewing Jansen’s second stage, which is roughly 11% complete. BHP may delay first production from that expansion by two years, to fiscal 2031, because it reckons there might be more potash supply coming into the market over the medium term than previously envisaged.

BHP said it expects to produce between 1.8 million and 2.0 million tons of copper in the year ahead.

Source – The Wall Street Journal

Japan’s Mitsubishi Materials is considering scaling back copper concentrate processing at its Onahama Smelter & Refinery as falling treatment and processing charges (TC/RCs) weigh on earnings, it said on Monday.

Mitsubishi Materials said the worsening TC/RCs from miners were expected to further erode smelting margins.

“To maintain and improve profitability, we need to raise the ratio of recycled raw materials and accelerate the shift to feedstock less vulnerable to TC/RC fluctuations,” the company said in a statement.

It is now considering the possibility of a partial shutdown of production facilities and a reduction in copper concentrate processing at Onahama, after planned maintenance from October to November this year, Mitsubishi Materials said.

Source – Reuters