BHP puts Anglo in ‘rearview mirror’ as CEO eyes Canada copper

BHP Group Ltd.’s top boss said he’s moving on after the company’s aborted attempt to buy Anglo American Plc, preferring instead to focus on its copper projects and opportunities in Canada.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry’s comments come four weeks after BHP made a last-minute pitch to buy Anglo American and prevent the smaller rival from pursuing its combination with Canada’s Teck Resources Ltd., only to pull its bid three days later.

“It wasn’t meant to be, and so that’s in the rearview mirror,” Henry said in a TV interview with BNN Bloomberg’s Amanda Lang on Taking Stock.

BHP has the ability to both invest in its own projects and pursue acquisitions of high-quality copper assets, Henry said. He added that Canada offers BHP further opportunities to invest due to its mining-friendly initiatives under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.

BHP is already spending more than $10 billion to build its Jansen potash project in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan, which Henry called the company’s single-biggest investment.

“I’m hopeful that in five years time, 10 years time, there’ll be further investments that we can make into Canadian resources, and specifically into copper,” Henry said. “We’ve got copper exploration partnerships underway right across Canada — both coasts, and up in the north.”

(By Sybilla Gross)