BHP CEO Mike Henry attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20.Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Canadian Mike Henry will step down as chief executive officer of BHP Group Ltd. this summer after a six-and-half-year run, and will be succeeded by Brandon Craig, who runs the company’s Americas division.
Melbourne-based BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, announced the succession plan in a news release on Tuesday evening.
Mr. Craig, who has been with BHP for more than 25 years, will take over the CEO position in July. He currently oversees the company’s operations in Canada, the United States and South America. Previously, he was head of BHP’s Western Australia iron ore business.
“Craig is a long-tenured BHP executive with deep operational experience across both iron ore and copper, and has played a central role in advancing BHP’s current growth pipeline,” Kaan Peker, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note to clients.
“We would expect continued focus on large, low-cost tier-one assets and growth in future-facing commodities, particularly copper and potash, alongside ongoing capital discipline.”
Mr. Henry will be succeeded by Brandon Craig, shown in November, 2024.Pablo Sanhueza/Reuters
The impending exit of Mr. Henry is not a surprise. BHP had been working on a succession plan for some time.
Mr. Henry was born in Abbotsford, B.C., and studied chemistry at the University of British Columbia. He has Japanese heritage through his mother, who was an emergency services nurse.
He joined BHP in 2001 through a coal joint venture the company had with Mitsubishi. He was president of BHP’s mineral operations in Australia from 2016 to 2020. He became CEO in January 2020.
After he assumed the top job, BHP sold its oil and gas business and increased its exposure to copper by buying Australia’s OZ Minerals for US$6.4-billion. Mr. Henry also ended the company’s dual primary share structure in London and Sydney, choosing to keep the Sydney listing, a move that made it far easier for BHP to use its stock to make acquisitions.
“Under Mike Henry’s leadership, BHP has established itself as the world’s largest copper producer, with over half of BHP’s recent half year earnings sourced from copper and significant volume growth to come,” the company said in a statement. “This, coupled with BHP’s soon to be commissioned potash mine, leaves the company well placed to deliver high-margin growth into the future.”
Under his tenure, BHP forged ahead with the construction of Jansen, a giant potash operation in Saskatchewan. It’s the single biggest project in the company’s history. The cost estimate for the first phase of the mine has been revised upwards several times.
BHP in January revised the budget to US$8.4-billion, from a range of US$7-billion to US$7.4-billion in July 2025. When it was approved in 2021, the project was originally expected to cost US$5.7-billion. Jansen, which will compete with potash mines operated by Canada’s Nutrien Ltd., is expected to start production in the middle of next year.
BHP under Mr. Henry in 2024 attempted to buy rival Anglo-American PLC in a US$49.1-billion deal that would have seen it markedly increase its copper production. Anglo, which was in the midst of a major restructuring, repeatedly rejected BHP’s advances.
Late last year, BHP approached Anglo with a new takeover offer, but yet again no deal was reached, with the British miner insisting its shareholders would benefit more from its proposed acquisition of Canadian mining company Teck Resources Ltd.