Biggest Mining Co. Earnings Drop 8% over Copper Losses

By: Taarek Refaat

CANBERRA, Feb. 19(SEE)-  World's biggest mining company BHP earnings dropped 8 percent in the first half of this fiscal year due to a decline in copper gains.

While analysts expected BHP's earnings to be $ 4.209 billion, the company announced on Tuesday that its profit fell to $ 4.03 billion in the second half of the year 2018 compared with $ 4.40 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Net income from continuing operations increased by 1 percent in the second half of last year on an annual basis to $ 20.74 billion.

According to the data released, iron ore mining revenues, which represents the company's biggest pision, rose 2.7 percent from July to December compared to the same period in 2017.

Copper revenues fell by 17.3 percent in the first half of last year, on a year-on-year basis, due to a sudden drop in production.

The profit before tax (PBT) of a copper unit declined by 40 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year.

BHP said it had cut its total debt to $ 9.9 billion last December, below its $ 10-15 billion targets.

In 2018, copper had witnessed a 20.20 percent price drop due to lower demand for the metal.