BHP Splits Americas Role in Executive Reshuffle — Update

By Rhiannon Hoyle

Incoming BHP Group chief executive, Brandon Craig, will split his recent role overseeing the company's Americas operations in two, sharpening focus on North and South America as growth engines for the world's most valuable miner.

BHP on Friday named innovation chief Jessica Farrell as North America president effective July 1, and said that Farrell will be acting president of the company's South America business until that role is filled.

BHP also said that, from September, Chief Operating Officer Edgar Basto will assume the newly created role of chief enterprise performance officer, which adds duties including strengthening contractor safety. Geraldine Slattery remains President Australia and will take over responsibility for Copper South Australia, it said.

Craig, a veteran BHP executive who has run the miner's Americas operations since March 2024, will become chief executive of Australia-based BHP on July 1. He succeeds Mike Henry, who has led the company for more than six years.

Craig has promised to advance a pipeline of growth options assembled by his predecessor, many of which he has had a hand in shaping. He said that splitting North and South America under two separate leaders "will allow a greater focus on each of these regions."

In Canada, BHP is building a giant potash mine that is set to become one of the biggest sources of the fertilizer ingredient globally. In the U.S., a joint venture with Rio Tinto to develop a copper mine in Arizona is progressing after a long-awaited federal land exchange earlier this year.

In Chile, the company is investing heavily to support continued production from its massive copper-mining operations there. It also last year bought a stake in a copper project that straddles the Argentina-Chile border that BHP considers one of the most significant copper discoveries globally in recent decades.

"Our operating environment is increasingly complex, but also rich in opportunity for companies that are best able to positively engage stakeholders, deploy capital to the right opportunities in a disciplined way and deliver safe, reliable operational performance," he said.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 25, 2026 20:37 ET (00:37 GMT)