Value of top 50 mining companies surges by $357 billion after monster August rally

Frik Els | September 4, 2026 | 

Reasons to be cheerful: #50

The gain took the ranking back above $2.5 trillion for the first time since February when gold stocks were shining brightest thanks to bullion trading close to $1,000 per ounce above today’s levels.  

Gold started the month at $4,043 an ounce and climbed to almost $4,660 by 25 August, its highest since mid-May, before a hawkish Jackson Hole speech from Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh and fresh US strikes on Iran knocked it back. Even after that retreat bullion finished almost 10% higher, its best month since January, and silver did better still, at one point up 20% inside three weeks to $70 an ounce.

The gold standard-bearers 

What was different this time is that the gold miners, so often left behind by their own product, kept up.

Between them the gold, silver and royalty companies supplied $183 billion of the month’s gain. The gold miners alone added $138 billion, a 31% rise in four weeks, and twelve of the thirteen in the ranking finished higher with one glaring exception.

AngloGold Ashanti led on percentages with a 41.6% advance worth almost $17 billion after second-quarter profit rose 58% and the board approved a $2 billion buyback. Australia’s Evolution Mining, up 41.4% on a record full-year profit and a 62% dividend increase, and Gold Fields, up 40.6% as Salares Norte carried the half-year while older mines faltered, were a fraction behind.

The heavy lifting in dollars came from the two largest. Newmont added $34 billion, the biggest single gain anywhere in the table, after beating profit estimates on the strength of the gold price even as output slipped, and Agnico Eagle added $29 billion on record free cash flow and record shareholder returns. Both now sit above $100 billion. 

As a group, precious metals stocks are still trading 19% below their end-February peak (which is technically close to a bear market, but certainly does not feel like one) and August only gave back half the value lost since then.

Southern Copper breaks up the old firm

For as long as this ranking has been compiled, and for decades before that, BHP and Rio Tinto have been the industry’s number one and number two. 

On 24 August that pairing was broken, if only for a few days. Southern Copper, riding record quarterly results and a copper price that set a fresh record above $14,000 a tonne, touched an all-time high of $220.78 a share and a market value of roughly $183 billion, a few billion clear of Rio Tinto.

Copper’s pullback in the last week of the month restored the old order, but only just. Southern Copper closed August at $176.4 billion against Rio Tinto’s $177.0 billion, a gap of $600 million between two companies that between them are worth more than a third of a trillion dollars. Rio Tinto is up 6.7% for the month after its highest first-half earnings in four years. 

Southern Copper is up 15.7% for the month and 48% for the year. With copper still within a stone’s throw of all-time highs and iron ore’s prospects much dimmer, the question may be not whether the Mexican-Peruvian producer takes second place for good, but when. Indeed, on this ranking’s own 1.5 times revenue test (see methodology below) Rio is, strictly speaking, an iron ore company enjoying editorial clemency. 

Red metal redemption

Copper’s rally to the mid-$14,000s was mostly on paper thanks to the will-he won’t he tariff overhang, but mining investors continued to ride the red metal in August.

The twelve copper companies in the ranking added $70 billion over the month. Freeport-McMoRan gained 20.8% after beating profit forecasts despite the slump at Grasberg and is now worth 47% more than at the start of the year. 

BHP, which added $25 billion in August, more than any company outside the gold sector, had copper overtake iron ore as its biggest earner in the full-year results it reported mid-month, and is up 57% for 2026, an eye-watering performance for the only ever $200 billion plus mining stock. BHP, like 30 other counters in the ranking, hit an all time high in 2026.

It is the pattern of the whole year in miniature. Gold has supplied every lurch on the chart, up and down. Copper has supplied the climb underneath it, and the diversified majors that sit at the top of the table are, increasingly, a copper bet.  When Anglo American and Teck Resources become Anglo-Teck, another 100-year old diversified company will officially move to the copper column (but not before Glencore takes its pound of flesh).  

The $100 billion club fills up

The rally repopulated the top of the table. The number of companies worth more than $100 billion rose from four to seven as Newmont, Freeport-McMoRan and Agnico Eagle cleared the mark to join BHP, Rio Tinto, Southern Copper and Zijin Mining. Glencore, up 10.4% in August and 47% for the year on a 15% jump in copper output and near-record trading profits, is the one left waiting at $94.6 billion.

Polyus pulls the other way

Only four of the fifty ended the month lower, and the sharpest fall ran directly against the tide. Polyus, Russia’s largest gold miner, lost 24.3% and $5.3 billion of market value, sliding from 28th to 47th and coming to rest two places above the cut-off. 

The reasons have nothing to do with the metal. Polyus shocked its shareholders in July by suspending dividends until 2030 to fund a wave of new projects, the stock lost a quarter of its value in a session, and it has kept falling since amid talk in Moscow of a windfall levy on miners. 

Divide each gold miner’s market value by the ounces it produces in a year and the ranking turns upside down. Investors are paying about $30,000 for every annual ounce at Agnico Eagle and $23,700 at Newmont. Polyus, which produced 2.6 million ounces last year from some of the lowest-cost mines in the industry, is valued at little more than $6,000 per annual ounce. At Newmont’s multiple the Moscow-listed company would be worth more than $60 billion rather than $16.6 billion, and at Agnico Eagle’s it would top $78 billion

Fellow Russian Norilsk Nickel was flat in dollar terms, a modest interim dividend doing nothing for a stock that is down a fifth this year.

The other two fallers were iron ore’s. Fortescue slipped 0.8% after cutting its final dividend to the lowest since 2018 despite record shipments, and Vale was unchanged after a 35% fall in second-quarter profit. With the benchmark below $100 a tonne, iron ore is the one major commodity the rally passed by.

The revolving door

The price of admission jumped to $15.6 billion from $13.6 billion a month earlier, and the bottom of the table churned accordingly. Lundin Gold, which narrowly missed July’s cut, came back in at 44th after a 27% month built on new discoveries around Fruta del Norte and a record quarter. Western Mining, which had scraped in at 50th in July, went straight back out.

Over the year the door has swung further. Since the end of 2025 five names have climbed into the fifty and five have dropped out. Managem, the Moroccan gold and base metals group, is the standout arrival, up more than 170% in dollar terms, alongside Coeur Mining, Kazatomprom after a 9% rise in first-half uranium output, South32 after agreeing to sell its aluminium business to Alcoa for $5.6 billion, and MMG, holding on at 50th.

Going the other way, Ivanhoe Mines fell out after slashing its Kamoa-Kakula copper guidance, Alamos Gold slipped below the line after seismic damage cut output at Young-Davidson and now sits 51st, $230 million short. Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and Impala Platinum lost their places, and Vedanta left as a single name once its demerger split the group into five listed companies, with Hindustan Zinc now carrying the flag on its own at 26th.

The best of months and the worst of them

August’s $357 billion is the largest single-month gain in a series that runs back to 2019, and the company it keeps is striking. The previous record was set in January, when the Top 50 added $338 billion, and February added a further $267 billion on the way to the ranking’s all-time high of $2.75 trillion. 

The year owns the other extreme as well. In March, as gold fell away from its record, $420 billion evaporated inside a month, the worst the ranking has recorded. No twelve months have moved the industry the way the last twelve have.

The map redraws

The rally shifted the industry’s centre of gravity. Australia, home to BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and South32, edged past Canada to become the most valuable mining address on the planet, $538 billion against $534 billion, even though Canada sends twelve companies into the ranking to Australia’s seven.

The United States is third at $358 billion on the strength of its gold and copper names, ahead of China at $296 billion. Russia, with Polyus collapsing and Norilsk standing still, is worth $39 billion, down 44% since December and the heady days when Uralkali and Alrosa managed to rank in the middle and Polyus and Norilsk vied for the top 10 are well and truly over.

MINING #METOO

Fortescue suspends executive over sexual harassment allegations

Marina Meireles | August 25, 2026 | 

Image: Christmas Creek iron ore mine. (Courtesy of: Fortescue Metals Group.)

Fortescue (ASX: FMG) announced the temporary suspension of an unnamed executive amid sexual assault allegations, as law firm MinterEllison conducts an independent investigation on the matter.

In a new statement, Fortescue said the allegation is being treated “extremely seriously” and that the executive was suspended from their activities in the company as the investigation progressed, though no findings have been made. 

“Sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination and any behavior that makes people feel unsafe have no place at Fortescue,” the company told Bloomberg.

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The Australian Financial Review reported that no timeline was given for MinterEllison to submit their report and findings, which will be reviewed by a subcommittee of Fortescue’s board members.

A week before this, Fortescue had decided to keep the senior executive at work as the investigation was underway. 

The company is already facing a class action lawsuit that alleges they failed to protect female workers from sexual harassment and discrimination in its sites.

An industry problem

The allegations put renewed attention on workplace culture at Fortescue, Australia’s third-largest miner, as Western Australia’s resources industry continues to grapple with sexual harassment and assault allegations at remote operations.  

The latest investigation follows an earlier dispute with Western Australian authorities over Fortescue’s handling of alleged misconduct. The miner avoided charges for failing to provide documents concerning dozens of alleged sexual harassment cases after settling the matter in late 2023.

Under that settlement, Fortescue agreed to spend A$1.4 million ($1 million) on strategies aimed at addressing inappropriate workplace behaviour across the mining industry.

Fortescue shares fell 1.2 per cent on Thursday to $17.71, and are down 11 per cent over the past year, the Australian Financial Review reported.

(With files from Bloomberg)

 

Two-day strike begins at BHP’s Port Hedland iron ore operations

Reuters | August 7, 2026 | 

Port Hedland, the world’s busiest iron ore export terminal. Image: Pilbara Ports Authority

Industrial action at BHP’s (ASX: BHP) Port Hedland operations in Western Australia began on Saturday, marking the first major strike there in more than two decades.

BHP ships some $80 million of iron ore daily through Port Hedland, the world’s biggest iron ore export hub. It has previously said it has plans to ensure that operations can continue.

About 150 workers are expected to take part in the strike on Saturday, the Combined BHP Ports Unions (CBPU) said, which is only a portion of BHP’s workforce at the port of more than 800 people.

A CBPU spokesperson earlier said that the nature of the industrial action, a 24-hour ship-loading ban followed by a 24-hour stoppage, remained unchanged.

The CBPU is negotiating a four-year bargaining agreement with the world’s third-largest iron ore miner, and opted to go ahead with the industrial action despite progress in talks between the parties on August 4.

About eight ships are expected to finish loading from BHP ports over the weekend, a source familiar with the matter said.

The action is not expected to affect rival miners Fortescue FMG.AX and Hancock Prospecting, which also use Port Hedland. The hub accounted for 75% of total iron ore exports from the Pilbara region of Western Australia in the year to June.

BHP has been negotiating for more than seven months with the CBPU, which represents around 450 operators and maintenance workers, over a new pay deal amid record share prices and rising costs of living. The CBPU will next meet with BHP on August 18, the same day that it will report its annual results.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

 

BHP faces weekend strike at Port Hedland iron ore hub as wage talks drag

Reuters | August 4, 2026 | 

Port Hedland, Australia. Stock image.

A two-day strike will go ahead at BHP’s Port Hedland operations in Western Australia this weekend despite progress in talks on Tuesday between unions and the global miner, a union spokesperson said.

BHP ships some $80 million of iron ore daily through Port Hedland, which is the world’s biggest export hub for iron ore.

As flagged last week, workers plan to impose a 24-hour ban on loading ships on Saturday, August 8, followed by a 24-hour work stoppage at the Port Hedland Bulk Export Terminal beginning at 05:30 AWST on August 9 (21:30 GMT August 8).

The action is likely to hold up 16 iron ore shipments over the two days, the union spokesperson said. BHP, the world’s third-biggest iron ore producer, has said it has plans to ensure that operations can continue.

Around 150 workers are expected to take part in the action, as the parties strive to reach terms on a four-year enterprise agreement.

“The meeting was productive, and while substantive issues are yet to be resolved, the parties have identified a path forward which we will pursue over coming weeks,” a spokesperson for Combined Ports Unions said in a statement.

Industrial action will still proceed as previously indicated, the union said.

The action is not expected to affect rival miners Fortescue and Hancock Prospecting, which also use Port Hedland. The hub accounted for 75% of total iron ore exports from the Pilbara in the year to June.

BHP said it would present an updated proposal at the next meeting on August 18, the same day that it will report its annual results.

Australia’s workplace regulator, the Fair Work Commission, is working with BHP and the unions on reaching an agreement.

“With another meeting scheduled and an updated proposal to come, we have made significant progress with the Commission’s assistance and there is no need for the unions to continue with their planned industrial action,” it said.

BHP has been negotiating for more than seven months with unions representing around 450 operators and maintenance workers over a new pay deal.

The unions said workers were seeking enforceable wage and condition protections. Workers argue that extreme heat, long hours and time away from family mean they should not be facing lower rates than workers in cities.

The fracture comes amid rising costs of living and a record share price for BHP, which is the world’s biggest listed miner and Australia’s largest listed company.

(By Sneha Kumar, Rajasik Mukherjee and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sonali Paul)

 

Iron ore mine depletion to underpin prices next decade, Rio Tinto says

Reuters | August 5, 2026 

(Image of the Paraburdoo operation, in the Pilbara, courtesy of Rio Tinto)

Supply pressure stemming from the depletion of iron ore mines built earlier this century, such as those in Australia, is set to underpin the iron ore market and prices over the coming decade, a Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) executive said on Wednesday.

Rio expects to invest more than $13 billion on new mines, plant and equipment in the Pilbara region from 2025 to 2027 while estimating that 800 million tonnes needs to be added globally across the next decade to maintain supply.

Only 300 million tonnes has been committed. 

“It feels like every year, the demise of iron ore is very much being exaggerated,” Matthew Holcz, Rio’s iron ore chief executive, told a lunch event at the Melbourne Mining Club.

“While I think the demand story has been reasonably well understood, I really think it’s been on the supply side, so disruptions have been underestimated,” he said, pointing to annual cyclones that strike Western Australia’s Pilbara coast from November to April.

“I think the rate of depletion is very much underestimated,” Holcz added.

“If we look at when the industry really boomed, 2005, 2010, 2015, a lot of those assets are now 15, 20 years old, and the scale of the iron ore industry … has increased.”

Investment in new supply is only a fraction of that seen at the start of last decade, Holcz said. 

“Marginal costs are a lot higher … so we think there’s good price support around the levels that we’re enjoying in recent years.”

China’s demand is expected to be stable until 2030 before declining slightly, but the Global South will bolster demand, particularly India, which Rio expects to be a net iron ore importer around 2035.

Change in leverage

On China’s state buyer, now more assertive in price talks with suppliers, Holcz said tension between buyers and sellers always prevailed but Rio was focused on long term ties and “win-win” opportunities.

“The supply-demand balance has shifted,” he told media in remarks on the sidelines. “You’ve got a market that is much more in balance, and certainly that’s shifted some of the leverage.”

Referring to union matters in the Pilbara, where workers are set to strike this weekend at BHP’s (ASX: BHP) Port Hedland operations, Holcz favoured a “direct relationship” with workers that he said has historically led to better outcomes.

Future capital spending decisions would hinge on competition, industrial relations and tax provisions elsewhere, areas in which Australia is falling behind.

Rio Tinto has no major exposure to iron ore trader Radiant World, Holcz added.

Trading houses Vitol Group and Cargill have stopped trading with Radiant World over concerns that invoices provided to its banks may not have been valid, Bloomberg News said last week, which Radiant world denies.

“From a Rio Tinto perspective, there isn’t any exposure there that we’re concerned about,” Holcz said. 

(Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

CMRG tells some steel mills to halt talks with Rio Tinto, sources say

Reuters | August 6, 2026 |

Rio operates 4 independent shipping terminals at 2 locations, Cape Lambert (pictured) and Dampier. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.)

China’s state iron ore buyer has directed some steel mills to halt negotiations with Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) for shipments from September, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, escalating pressure on the world’s top iron ore producer during annual supply talks.

China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) has increasingly used its buying power to wrest better terms for its steel makers by restricting purchases from big iron ore miners while contract talks are underway.

In the run-up to the expiry of annual supply deals, miners typically discuss with customers their desired volumes and specific cargo and shipment dates for the next year, a trader said. CMRG has asked some mills not to settle those details, they said.

Larger procurement volume

CMRG is negotiating for more than half of China’s annual import volumes, according to commodity research group Wood Mackenzie’s estimates.

The push to stall talks with Rio Tinto was aimed at pressuring mills that have not given up negotiation rights to CMRG to do so, two traders and an analyst said, which would hand the state-run trader a larger procurement volume and boost its bargaining power.

The most active iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 closed daytime trade up by 2.57% to the highest since July 31 at 719 yuan ($106.54) per metric ton, while the benchmark September iron ore SZZFU6 on the Singapore Exchange jumped 2.15% to $96.45 a ton as of 0823 GMT, also the highest since July 31.

CMRG has already targeted Australia’s other top iron ore producers — (ASX: BHP), Fortescue (ASX: FMG) and privately held Hancock Prospecting, owned by Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart.

Australia supplies more than half of China’s iron ore imports, making it by far its largest source of the steelmaking ingredient, and the material is Australia’s most valuable commodity export.

CMRG did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Rio Tinto declined to comment.

Under pressure

BHP faced progressive purchasing bans on some products through late 2025 and early 2026 as its annual term contract negotiations dragged on. Restrictions were lifted following a visit by its then incoming CEO Brandon Craig in April.

Meanwhile, a top executive at Fortescue last week said CMRG’s actions were undermining China’s stable iron ore supply.

Rio Tinto had been seen as insulated from some of that pressure given its largest shareholder is China’s state-owned Chinalco, which also leads the consortium partnering Rio Tinto in the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

However, this week its chief executive of iron ore, Matthew Holcz, said negotiating leverage has shifted away from iron ore producers as growing supply has balanced the market.

Holcz said tension was always present between buyers and sellers, but Rio was focused on long-term ties and “win-win” opportunities.

Australia’s major miners and their lobbyists have asked Canberra for help in pushing back against Beijing’s efforts, including raising the prospect of a single selling desk for the country’s most valuable commodity export.

But the view from at least one miner was that Canberra has been trying to repair its relationship with China so might not want to take up this fight right now. China unofficially banned a swathe of Australia’s commodity exports, including coal, wine and beef, between 2020 and 2023.

($1 = 6.7489 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Melanie Burton and Reuters staff; Editing by Sonali Paul and David Holmes)

India’s Odisha state warns iron ore miners, steelmakers over grade manipulation

Reuters | August 4, 2026 |

Steel mill in India. Stock image.

India’s top iron ore producing state of Odisha has warned steelmakers and miners of strict action over alleged grade manipulation and misdeclaration, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and three sources, a crackdown that analysts say could tighten domestic iron ore supplies.

India, the world’s second-largest crude steel producer after China, is expected to produce 340 million to 345 million metric tons of iron ore, the key raw material used in steelmaking, in 2026-27, up from about 316 million tons a year earlier, commodities consultancy BigMint said.

Any disruption to supplies from resource-rich Odisha could scupper those production targets.

The warning follows inspections that “revealed a consistent grade manipulation by the lessees,” which include major steel producers, resulting in a “substantial loss” of state revenues, according to a July 6 government document reviewed by Reuters.

The companies named in the July 6 letter included JSW Steel, Tata Steel, state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Jindal Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India.

A Tata Steel spokesperson denied any discrepancies, saying it pays royalties as per prescribed norms and that most of its iron ore dispatches are in the highest royalty grade.

JSW declined to comment. SAIL and Jindal Steel did not respond to Reuters‘ emails seeking comment. Odisha’s Directorate of Mines and Geology also did not respond to requests for comment.

Government officials met steel and mining associations and company executives last month to discuss the findings, according to July 13 meeting minutes and a source familiar with the matter.

“Any deliberate grade manipulation, misdeclaration or suppression of mineral value affecting government revenue shall be viewed very seriously and strictly dealt with,” the meeting minutes showed.

Odisha’s steel and mines department directed lessees to revise mining plans and seek approval from the Indian Bureau of Mines where actual ore grades differ from approved grades, according to the minutes.

Analysts say stricter inspections are already affecting lower grade ore availability.

Offers for lower grade ore have become limited in the merchant market over the past month because of intensified inspections by Odisha authorities, BigMint said.

“Since Odisha is the largest producer of iron ore in the country, if the issue escalates, it might impact the overall availability of iron ore in the country,” said B.K. Bhatia, a mining expert and former director general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries.

Industry representatives disputed the state’s allegations.

“Industry has raised concerns that the grades extracted are as per the geology and that is not under anyone’s control,” one industry representative said, declining to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

(By Neha Arora, Jatindra Dash and Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Mayank Bhardwaj and Saad Sayeed)

 

BHP Port Hedland iron ore workers to strike August 8-9, if no deal reached

Reuters | July 30, 2026 | 

Jimblebar, one of seven iron ore mines BHP operates in the Pilbara. (Image courtesy of AGC)

Workers at BHP Group’s Port Hedland iron ore operations in Western Australia plan to go on strike next week, unions said on Friday, threatening to disrupt the miner’s $80 million of daily exports through the world’s largest iron ore port.

BHP, the world’s third-largest iron ore producer, still has time to avert the action if it can reach a deal at the next meeting, on Tuesday, union officials said at a press conference in Melbourne. The unions most recently met with BHP on July 28.

Workers plan to impose a 24-hour ban on loading ships on Saturday, August 8, followed by a 24-hour work stoppage at the Port Hedland Bulk Export Terminal beginning at 05:30 AWST on August 9 (21:30 GMT August 8), said the Combined BHP Ports Unions in a statement.

Electrical Trades Union spokesperson Adam Woodage said 16 shipments were expected to be held up over the two days.

Around 150 workers are expected to take part in the strike, he told reporters in Melbourne.

BHP said it was focused on reaching a fair deal with the unions, adding it had offered the unions a 16% pay raise.

“It is disappointing that they are creating more disruptions,” BHP said in an emailed statement.

“As with all potential disruptions to our business, we have plans in place to ensure operations can safely continue.”

Port Hedland, which is also used by miners Fortescue and Hancock Prospecting, shipped out 571.6 million metric tons of iron ore in the year to June 2026, accounting for 75% of total iron ore exports from the Pilbara over that period.

Market sanguine, for now

The threatened strike put a floor under sliding iron ore prices, which hit a one-year low on Thursday.

The stoppages threatened for August 8 to 9 would affect around 800,000 metric tons a day of iron ore shipments, which BHP should be able to make up for across the year, said analyst Glyn Lawcock of Barrenjoey in Sydney.

“One swallow doesn’t make a spring. But if this is the tip of the iceberg and we see continued and ongoing disruption, it will ultimately take a toll on the market,” he said.

The Combined BHP Ports Unions represents three unions, including the Western Mine Workers Alliance, as well as electrical and manufacturing workers.

High-voltage and power workers negotiating a separate enterprise agreement with BHP will also undertake a 12-hour stoppage on August 9.

Unions are pushing for a bigger voice in Australia’s mining heartland, emboldened by a Labor government law in 2022 giving them the power to negotiate wage deals that cover several employers and more scope to request flexible arrangements and industry-wide strikes.

Top global miner BHP has been in negotiations for more than seven months with unions representing around 450 operators and maintenance workers over a four-year enterprise agreement.

The unions said workers were seeking enforceable wage and condition protections through a new enterprise agreement.

Workers are arguing that extreme heat, long hours and time away from family meant they should not be facing lower rates than workers in cities.

“The only reason you end up with some money in your pocket is because you’re working every weekend, You’re still going to get your double time but you’re working four weeks straight for it,” said electrical trades worker Ben McKenna.

Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto said on Friday in an analyst call that Australia’s No. 3 miner was “not immune” from strikes, but that it hoped its culture would prevail.

Earlier this month, BHP reported record annual iron ore output.

(By Melanie Burton and Rajasik Mukherjee; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sonali Paul)

BHP, unions fail to reach Port Hedland wage deal

Staff Writer | July 28, 2026 |

Port Hedland, Australia’s biggest iron-ore export hub. (Image courtesy of BHP.)

BHP (ASX: BHP) and unions representing workers at its Port Hedland iron ore operations in Australia have ended wage negotiations without reaching a new agreement, but further talks are scheduled for next week.

The miner has been negotiating with the Combined Ports Unions over a four-year enterprise agreement covering workers at Port Hedland, a key export hub in northwest Australia through which about $80 million of BHP’s iron ore shipments pass each day. Both sides said last week they had made progress in the negotiations.

A spokesperson for the Combined Ports Unions told Reuters that bargaining will resume next Tuesday. BHP did not reply to requests for comments. The Electrical Trades Union, one of three unions represented by the Combined Ports Unions, is also scheduled to meet separately with BHP negotiators on Thursday.

Key export hub

The negotiations are being closely watched because Port Hedland is one of the world’s largest iron ore export terminals and a critical link in BHP’s Pilbara operations. 

A prolonged labour dispute could disrupt exports from Australia’s biggest iron ore-producing region, although both sides continue to negotiate.

FE

Fortescue looks to markets outside China as CMRG pressure mounts

Bloomberg News | July 31, 2026 

(Image courtesy of Fortescue Metals

Fortescue Ltd. said actions by China’s state-backed iron ore buyer were undermining the market, prompting the miner to explore alternative customers to reduce the impact of the dispute.

“We want just a fair market practice,” Gus Pichot, chief executive officer for growth and energy at Fortescue, said on a call with analysts Friday, adding that China Mineral Resources Group Co. was “undermining the stable supply of iron ore to China.”

The standoff has become one of the clearest tests yet of Beijing’s push to gain greater leverage over iron ore trade through CMRG. Any prolonged disruption could reshape trade flows in a market where China buys about three-quarters of the world’s seaborne iron ore.

China remained Fortescue’s largest market, but the company was continuing to sell through multiple channels while exploring additional demand in Southeast Asia and India, Pichot said.

The comments came days after executive chairman Andrew Forrest urged China to “always negotiate fairly” after CMRG stepped up pressure on the Australian miner following stalled talks over a supply agreement.

CMRG has coordinated with traders, steel mills and port operators to delay Fortescue cargoes, limit purchases of some of its products and discourage new buying, Bloomberg previously reported.

Ongoing pressure on Chinese steelmakers has been a key factor behind the dispute, according to Fortescue. A lingering property downturn, slowing steel demand and excess supply have squeezed mill margins.

“The whole reason why we’re having this pressure with CMRG is because of the margin squeeze on mills,” chief executive officer Dino Otranto said on the call.

Fortescue shipped 52.7 million tons of iron ore in the three months ended June 30, bringing full-year exports to 201 million tons.

(By Paul-Alain Hunt and Katharine Gemmell)

 

Fortescue’s Super Special Fines iron ore stocks at China ports tumble to four-month low

Reuters | July 17, 2026 | 

Stock image.

Stocks of Fortescue’s Super Special Fines, a type of lower-grade iron ore, held at Chinese ports dropped 16.5% to a four-month low in the week to July 14, traders said, as steelmakers rushed to take delivery of cargoes before restrictions by Beijing kicked in.

China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), the state iron ore buyer, notified domestic steel mills in early July that from July 15 they must not take delivery of Super Special Fines held at ports.

It later widened the restrictions to new purchases of Fortescue’s Super Special Fines cargoes, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

Inventory of Super Special Fines at some major Chinese ports slumped by nearly 17% week-on-week to 6.01 million metric tons as of July 14, the lowest since mid-March, said three traders.

That represents the steepest weekly fall in nearly nine months, according to one of the traders, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

CMRG is locked in talks with Fortescue on a new supply contract.

The restriction on portside cargoes escalates CMRG’s campaign to assert control over the giant iron ore market, following a months-long standoff with BHP that ended in April.

Fewer deliveries of Super Special Fines cargoes at Chinese ports partly due to a typhoon in China also contributed to the sharp inventory drawdown, an industry analyst said.

(Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 

China restricts some Fortescue iron ore cargoes as talks drag

Reuters | July 1, 2026 | 

Stock image.

China’s state iron ore buyer has asked some domestic steel mills not to take delivery of certain portside iron ore products from Fortescue, industry sources said, the latest Australian miner to fall foul of Beijing’s push to increase control over the market.

China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) notified some mills verbally that from July 15 they must not take delivery of portside cargoes of Fortescue’s Super Special Fines and Fortune Fines, both of which are lower-grade iron ore products, five sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Fortescue declined to comment. Shares of Fortescue were flat at 12:57 GMT on Thursday, even as peers BHP and Rio Tinto fell more than 1%.

The move escalates CMRG’s campaign to assert control over how iron ore enters the Chinese market, following a months-long standoff with BHP that ended in April.

Fortescue ships most of its iron ore to China and is still negotiating supply terms with CMRG.

All sources sought anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. CMRG did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of working hours on Wednesday.

Stocks of Fortescue’s Super Special Fines at some major Chinese ports stood at 7.22 million tons as of June 30, said a separate trader on condition of anonymity.

That represents nearly 5% of total portside iron ore stocks, according to a Reuters calculation based on data from the consultancy Steelhome.

CMRG last month told some domestic steelmakers not to engage in discussions with Fortescue about a new iron ore product — Fortune Fines — scheduled for shipments from July.

Fortescue’s China president departed in June, just four months after taking the position, the company confirmed last week.

BHP said in mid-April that it had concluded supply contract talks with CMRG, ending a months-long dispute, and Beijing then lifted bans on several of its products.

CMRG was established in 2022 as part of Beijing’s efforts to centralize its iron ore procurement and win better terms from upstream mining giants.

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Kevin Liffey and Tom Hogue)