Copper Lake Raises C$1 Million to Advance Marshall Lake Exploration

[BHP CEO Responds to Rumors That the Government Plans to Promote Joint Negotiations Among Australian Companies: Upholding Floating Pricing and Efficient Market-Based Operations] On August 18, during BHP’s FY2026 earnings conference call. In response to market rumors that the Australian federal government planned to encourage Australian miners such as BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue to form a joint group to conduct collective negotiations with China Mineral Resources Group, thereby strengthening Australia’s bargaining power, Chief Executive Officer Brandon Craig stated that BHP’s guiding principle was to support a globalized, available seaborne bulk commodities market and to pursue an efficient price formation mechanism. The market should operate efficiently, with marginal mt forming price si

BHP announced its FY2026 results for the year ended June 30, 2026, on August 18. In FY2026, BHP’s copper production was 1.953 million mt, down 3% YoY, remaining at around 2 million mt for the second consecutive fiscal year; the group’s FY2027 copper production guidance is 1.65–1.8 million mt. Supported by higher copper prices, BHP’s average realized copper price in FY2026 rose 35% YoY to $5.74/lb, and the copper business’s underlying EBITDA increased 48% YoY to $18.2 billion, contributing more than half of the group’s underlying EBITDA for the first time, with a share reaching 54%. By mine, the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida, produced 1.261 million mt of copper in FY2026, down 3% YoY. Although both mine output and beneficiation plant throughput hit record highs, a planned decline in feed grade continued to weigh on copper production. BHP expects Escondida’s FY2027 copper production to be 1–1.1 million mt, with beneficiation plant feed grade expected to be about 0.70%; mid-term production in FY2028–FY2031 is expected to remain at 900,000–1 million mt per year.

Getty Copper reported results from the first drill hole at its Getty North project in British Columbia, Canada. Hole GN26-01 intersected 342 metres of continuous copper mineralisation grading 0.50% copper from a depth of 9 metres, with associated molybdenum mineralisation. The project is located adjacent to the Highland Valley copper mining district, one of Canada’s major operating copper areas. The company plans to continue drilling as part of a programme of around 16,000 metres. The first hole indicates a thick, shallow copper-mineralised interval, but a single drill hole does not establish a mineral resource. Further drilling is needed to define the geometry and continuity of mineralisation. The project remains at an early exploration stage and has no direct near-term impact on copper supply.