Tag Archives: Andrew Mackenzie

Mike Henry to ‘unlock even greater value’ from orebodies as new BHP CEO

Base metals, Mining people, Steel and iron ore, , ,

The Board of BHP has announced that Mike Henry has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of BHP, effective January 1, replacing Andrew Mackenzie who will retire on December 31.

Henry has 30 years’ experience in the global mining and petroleum industry, spanning operational, commercial, safety, technology and marketing roles, according to BHP. He was appointed to his current role of President Operations Minerals Australia in 2016, and has been a member of the Executive Leadership Team since 2011.

He joined BHP in 2003, initially in business development and then in marketing and trading of a range of mineral and petroleum commodities based in The Hague, where he was also accountable for BHP’s ocean freight operations. He went on to hold various positions in the company, including President Coal, President HSE, Marketing and Technology, and Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining BHP, Henry worked in the resources industry in Canada, Japan and Australia.

Chairman, Ken MacKenzie, said: “Mike Henry’s deep operational and commercial experience, developed in a global career spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, is the perfect mix for our next CEO. I am confident his discipline and focus will deliver a culture of high performance and returns for BHP. Mike has been a strong advocate for the industry, driving higher standards of safety and a commitment to our local communities and global stakeholders.

“We would like to recognise the outstanding contribution of Andrew Mackenzie to BHP as CEO. Under his leadership, BHP has transformed into a simpler and more productive company, financially strong and sharply focused on value for shareholders. We thank him for his vision and hard work, which has changed the way we operate and engage with the world.”

Outgoing CEO, Andrew Mackenzie, said: “It has been a privilege to serve as CEO of BHP. Our products are essential to global economic development and we deliver them in a way that creates significant value, for our shareholders, our employees, communities, nations and the world. BHP is in a good position. We have a simple portfolio, a strong balance sheet and options to grow value and returns for decades to come.

“Fresh leadership will deliver an acceleration in the enormous potential for value and returns that will come from BHP’s next wave of transformation. Choosing the right time to retire has not been an easy decision, however the company is in a good position. I am confident Mike and BHP will seize the many opportunities that lie ahead.”

CEO-Elect, Mike Henry, said: “I am honoured and privileged to be appointed as CEO and to have the opportunity to lead the talented and hard-working people who make BHP a great company. For more than 130 years, through the ingenuity and commitment of its people, BHP has delivered shareholder value while successfully adapting its portfolio, operations and products. Today we are even safer, more predictable and more focused.

“We will unlock even greater value from our orebodies and petroleum basins by enabling our people with the capability, data and technology to innovate and improve. We must operate safely, with discipline and reduce our impact on the environment. With the right people and the right culture we will deliver value and strong returns for shareholders and for all of society.”

BHP’s Jansen potash project set for early-2021 investment decision

Energy minerals, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining project news, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , ,

While uncertainty remains around the construction of BHP’s Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan, Canada, the company, in its September quarter results, confirmed it is still spending money on the asset prior to making a development decision.

BHP said the Jansen Stage 1 potash project will be presented to the board for a final investment decision by February 2021. The currently Stage 1 plan, which is in the feasibility study stage, involves building out initial capacity of 4.3-4.5 Mt/y of potash, with expansion optionality.

The miner has, so far, committed to spending $2.7 billion on the project. This is expected to result in the excavation and lining of the 7.3 m diameter production (975 m deep) and service (1,005 m deep, pictured) shafts – sunk by DMC Mining using Herrenknecht’s Shaft Boring Roadheader – and the installation of essential surface infrastructure and utilities. The overall Stage 1 project is expected to have a capital outlay of $5.3-5.7 billion.

In the September quarter results, BHP said in order to make a final investment decision, work on engineering to support project planning and on finalising the port solution is required. The BHP Board has, as a result, approved $144 million of spending for these activities, with an additional $201 million in funding set aside to further de-risk the project. The latter is focused on the mine’s scope of work, advancing other engineering and procurement activities, and preparation works for underground infrastructure, it said.

“This will enable an efficient transition of the project team between the study and execution phase, should the project be approved,” BHP said, adding that the release of funding to the project will be staged over this period.

The company, meanwhile, gave an update on its South Flank iron ore development, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, with CEO Andrew Mackenzie saying the project was 50% complete, with all major items on schedule and budget.

South Flank, which is expected to cost $4.6 billion to build, is set to replace production from the existing Yandi mine, which is reaching the end of its economic life. BHP is targeting first ore extraction at the operation in 2021 and expects to ramp up to 80 Mt/y of output.

BHP backs low carbon plan with $400 million investment

Coal technology, Environmental, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, Water management, , ,

BHP has announced a five-year, $400 million Climate Investment Program to develop technologies to reduce emissions from its own operations as well as those generated from the use of its resources.

Andrew Mackenzie, BHP CEO, said: the program will, over the next five years, scale up low carbon technologies critical to the decarbonisation of its operations. He added: “It will drive investment in nature-based solutions and encourage further collective action on scope three emissions.

“Commercial success of these investments will breed ambition and create more innovative partnerships to respond collectively to the climate challenge.”

This year alone, BHP has announced several initiatives looking to reduce its carbon footprint, namely: releasing the world’s first bulk carrier tender for LNG-fuelled ships for iron ore transport, signing an agreement with Mitsubishi to explore new emission reduction technologies and making a $6 million equity investment into Carbon Engineering Ltd, a company looking to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Mackenzie said: “We must take a product stewardship role for emissions across our value chain and commit to work with shippers, processors and users of our products to reduce scope three emissions.”

Other measures the company announced today include:

  • Establishing a new medium-term, science-based target for scope one and two emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. “This is in addition to BHP’s short-term goal to cap 2022 emissions at 2017 levels, and long-term goal of net-zero emissions by mid-century,” the company said;
  • Developing a new climate portfolio analysis report in 2020, following on from BHP’s 2015 two degree scenario analysis. “This new report will evaluate the potential impacts of a broader range of scenarios and a transition to a ‘well below’ two degree world”, and;
  • Strengthening the link between emissions performance and executive remuneration. From 2021, this link will be clarified to further reinforce the strategic importance and responsibility of reducing emissions as a business, BHP said.

Mackenzie concluded: “We require a considered and orderly transition to a lower carbon world, in which resource companies like BHP have both critical expertise and a key role to play.”

BHP and Mitsubishi to explore new emissions reductions technologies

Coal technology, Environmental, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , ,

BHP says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd to work together in the pursuit of emissions reductions, including from the life-cycle use of marketed products.

BHP and MDP are reviewing opportunities to undertake research, pilot new ideas, and develop and deploy new emissions reduction technologies, BHP said.

The collaboration with Mitsubishi Development forms part of BHP’s global program of projects in China, Canada, the US and Australia to progress low emissions technology. This is in addition to the near-term and longer-term targets BHP has set for emissions reductions within the company’s global operations.

BHP Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mackenzie, said the MoU marked the start of an important collaboration with one of BHP’s essential long-term industry partners.

“BHP is committed to accelerating the development of emerging technologies that have the potential to achieve material reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” Mackenzie said.

“Our new collaboration with Mitsubishi Development demonstrates the important role the private sector can play in bringing these technologies to market.

“Both companies are committed to emissions reductions in a range of industries, including the steel industry.

“Our Japanese partners and customers are critical to the development of new technologies and approaches to emissions reductions that stand to benefit countries across the globe.”

Mitsubishi Development Managing Director and CEO, Sadahiko Haneji, said the MoU is an important initiative for a company engaging in mineral resource activities in Australia, such as Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP).

“Mitsubishi Corporation Group, and therefore MDP, is committed to simultaneously generating economic value, environmental value, and societal value through all business activities it conducts,” Haneji said.

“In line with this principle and guided by commitment to corporate social responsibility as well as global climate targets, MDP is enhancing its efforts to generate further environmental value, to help society transition to a low-carbon future.

“We are confident that this partnership with BHP will help us to achieve our goal, as well as contribute to the sustainable future of our local and global communities.”

Mackenzie said: “At BHP, we work with customers, suppliers and parties along our value chain to influence emissions reductions across the full life-cycle of our products.

“As well as investments in emerging technologies, we set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for our operations, we build the resilience of our operations and communities to the physical impacts of climate change, and we work across sectors to strengthen the global policy and market response.”

Examples of BHP’s low emissions technology investments include:

BHP already has an existing partnership with MDP in the form of the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), Australia’s largest coal producer and supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal. BMA, owned 50:50 by the partners, operates seven Bowen Basin mines, in Queensland (Caval Ridge pictured), and owns and operates the Hay Point Coal Terminal, near Mackay.

BHP looks at phased rollout of autonomous trucks at WA iron ore ops

Automation, Base metals, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

BHP CEO, Andrew Mackenzie, says the diversified miner is looking at a phased roll out of autonomous haulage technology across its Western Australia Iron Ore operations following success at its Jimblebar mine.

BHP opened Jimblebar, located 40 km east of Newman in the Pilbara, back in 2014 and soon started using it as one of the main testbeds for autonomous trucking technology. The site went fully autonomous at the end of 2017.

Mackenzie said in the company’s half-year (to end-December) results presentation that Jimblebar’s fully autonomous trucks were now “amongst our safest and most productive”. He added: “This success will guide a phased roll out across other operations.”

In terms of automation, the company also said it was studying the use of autonomous drills at its majority-owned Escondida copper mine in Chile, in addition to carrying out further trial integration and automation technologies at its Eastern Ridge Innovation Mine.