BHP iron ore output recovers; forecasts rise in fiscal 2020

BHP said iron ore output recovered in the fourth quarter after a cyclone hit production in March, adding that output could grow by up to 6% in the 2020 financial year.

The world's biggest miner forecast a jump in Australian production to 273m - 286m tonnes in fiscal 2020. Annual output fell to 269.6m million tonnes from 275m.

BHP met its revised target for iron ore production, but forecast $1bn in productivity losses for fiscal 2019 due to disruptions across its commodity operations.

This included flooding in Queensland that hit metallurgical coal operations, changes to its Nickel West mine plan and higher costs in thermal coal, BHP said.

“Underlying improvements in productivity were largely offset by the impact of unplanned production outages of $835m,” the company said in a quarterly production statement.

Iron ore output fell to 71m tonnes in the fourth quarter, compared with 72m a year earlier and up 12% quarter on quarter. Production in Australia was hit after cyclone Veronica slammed into the coast of Western Australia in March, hitting the operations of several miners in the region.