BHP Splits Americas Role in Executive Reshuffle — 2nd 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 Farrell will be acting president of the company's South America business until that role is filled.

As part of the executive reshuffle, Chief Operating Officer Edgar Basto will assume the newly created position of chief enterprise performance officer in September, adding duties including strengthening contractor safety to his role.

Geraldine Slattery remains Australia president and will take over responsibility for the Copper South Australia business from Basto, who oversaw the integration of mines acquired in BHP's 2023 takeover of OZ Minerals.

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."

BHP's North America business is anchored by two multibillion-dollar projects.

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.

Meanwhile, South America is a cornerstone of BHP's growing copper business.

In Chile, the company is investing heavily to bolster production from its massive copper-mining operations there. Its majority-owned Escondida mine is the largest copper producer in the world.

The company 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.

BHP's expansion plans are a bet that the world will need more copper for data centers and low-carbon technologies, and more potash to support food production for a rising global population.

However, BHP's management has also acknowledged that resources are getting harder to find and extract. Mines are deeper and more complex than before, and costs are rising. BHP last week announced another in a series of cost overruns on its Canadian potash project, called Jansen.

Miners also face challenges from lengthy permitting processes and community opposition, as well as rising geopolitical complexity and trade disruptions.

"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," Craig said.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 25, 2026 22:30 ET (02:30 GMT)