Correspondence 0001193125-23-137662 from BHP Group Ltd (BHP, BHPLF) (CIK 0000811809) (BHP)
BHP Group Ltd (BHP, BHPLF) (CIK 0000811809)
Date: May 8, 2023 · CIK: 0000811809 · Accession: 0001193125-23-137662
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-09526
Referenced dates: April 6, 2023
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm CORRESPONDENCE 171 Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia T +61 3 9606 3333 F +61 3 9609 3015 bhp.com May 8, 2023 VIA EDGAR United States Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Corporate Finance Office of Energy & Transportation 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549 United States of America Attention: John Coleman and Craig Arakawa Re: BHP Group Limited Form 20-F for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022 Filed September 6, 2022 File No. 001-09526 Dear Messrs. Coleman and Arakawa: I refer to your letter, dated April 12, 2023, setting out comments of the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Staff” and the “Commission”) relating to the Form 20-F for the year ended June 30, 2022 of BHP Group Limited (“BHP”, “we” or “our”). BHP’s response to the Staff’s comment is set out below. To assist in the Staff’s review, we have preceded our response with the text (in italics and bold type) of the comment as stated in your letter. Form 20-F for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022 Exhibit 96, page 263 1. We note your response to comment 2 and we do not concur with your assessment. In order to meet the requirements in Item 601(b)(96)(iii)(B)(19)(ii) of Regulation S-K, please revise to include the entire discounted cash flow analysis in each of your respective technical report summary reports. BHP acknowledges the Staff’s comment. BHP undertakes to comply with this comment in future filings of its annual report on Form 20-F by including in each technical report summary (“TRS”) the entire discounted cash flow analysis, beginning with BHP’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ending June 30, 2023 (the “2023 Form 20-F”). Examples of the intended revisions to BHP’s disclosures, by reference to each TRS filed as an exhibit to BHP’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended June 30, 2022 (the “2022 Form 20-F”), are set out in the attached Appendix. We note that Item 1302(b) of Regulation S-K requires filing a TRS only when disclosing for the first time mineral reserves or mineral resources or when there is a material change in the mineral reserves or mineral resources from the last TRS filed for the property. If BHP files an updated TRS as an exhibit to the 2023 Form 20-F to update a previously-filed TRS, BHP undertakes to include the disclosures substantially as set out in the attached Appendix in that exhibit, as applicable. If BHP does not file an updated TRS as an exhibit to the 2023 Form 20-F for any previously-filed TRS, BHP expects to supplement the information included in those TRSs by furnishing the information set out in the attached Appendix on a report on Form 6-K and including that information in a restated version of the TRS for the year ended June 30, 2022, or incorporating that report by reference as an exhibit to the 2023 Form 20-F. BHP respectfully advises the Staff that it expects to disclose in the same manner the information that BHP undertook to disclose in its letter, dated April 6, 2023, in response the Staff’s comments on the 2022 Form 20-F. * * * We are available to discuss any of the foregoing with you at your convenience. Please contact me if you wish to discuss the information provided in this response. Very truly yours, /s/ David Lamont David Lamont Chief Financial Officer cc: Waldo D. Jones, Jr. (Sullivan & Cromwell) Appendix Supplemental information for the technical report summary for Minera Escondida Limitada (Exhibit 96.1 to BHP’s Form 20-F for the year ended June 30, 2022) As discussed in BHP’s response described in the above letter, BHP intends to include at the end of Chapter 19.2 of its technical report summary for Minera Escondida Limitada the information substantially as set out below. Minera Escondida Limitada: Economic Analysis – Average annual after-tax cash flows A cash flow summary on an average annual basis is provided in the table below. The annual cash flow is presented with the inputs as averages grouped in five-year groups given the average annual inputs for each year are substantially the same throughout the relevant five-year groups. The closure and rehabilitation costs remaining after the final year of production are presented in aggregate (2068+), and do not represent an annual average. The sole purpose of the annual cash flow data presented below is to demonstrate the economic viability of the mineral reserves for the purposes of reporting in accordance with S-K 1300 only and should not be used for other purposes. The annual cash flow data was prepared based upon Pre-Feasibility-level studies and three year historical prices and costs described in this Technical Report Summary; it is subject to change as assumptions and inputs are updated. The information presented does not guarantee future financial or operational performance. The presented information contains forward-looking statements. Please refer to “Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements” at the front of this Technical Report Summary. Financial years ending June 30 Reserves economic viability 2023-27 2028-32 2033-37 2038-42 2043-47 2048-52 2053-57 2058-63 2063-67 2068+ Material Movement including waste Mt 290 275 266 259 270 261 126 151 74 — Revenue US$ billion 5.0 2.8 2.7 2.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.1 1.0 — Operating costs US$ billion (2.2 ) (1.6 ) (1.5 ) (1.5 ) (1.2 ) (1.2 ) (0.9 ) (0.8 ) (0.6 ) — Capital expenditures US$ billion (0.5 ) (0.4 ) (0.3 ) (0.3 ) (0.3 ) (0.2 ) (0.2 ) (0.2 ) (0.0 ) — Closure and rehabilitation1 US$ billion (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (1.2 ) Taxes (including royalties) US$ billion (0.9 ) (0.3 ) (0.3 ) (0.4 ) (0.1 ) (0.1 ) (0.2 ) (0.0 ) (0.1 ) — After-tax cash flow US$ billion 1.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.0 0.2 (1.2 ) Discount cash flow US$ billion 1.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 (0.1 ) 1 Total closure and rehabilitation costs do not equal the total amount of closure and rehabilitation costs in Table 19-4 due to rounding. Supplemental information for the technical report summary for Western Australia Iron Ore (Exhibit 96.2 to BHP’s Form 20-F for the year ended June 30, 2022) As discussed in BHP’s response described in the above letter, BHP intends to include at the end of Chapter 19.2 of its technical report summary for Western Australia Iron Ore the information substantially as set out below. Western Australia Iron Ore: Economic Analysis – Average annual after-tax cash flows A cash flow summary on an average annual basis is provided in the table below. The annual cash flow is presented with the inputs as averages grouped in five-year groups given the average annual inputs for each year are substantially the same throughout the relevant five-year groups. The closure and rehabilitation costs remaining after the final year of production are presented in aggregate (2053+), and do not represent an annual average. The sole purpose of the annual cash flow data presented below is to demonstrate the economic viability of the mineral reserves for the purposes of reporting in accordance with S-K 1300 only and should not be used for other purposes. The annual cash flow data was prepared based upon Pre-Feasibility-level studies and three year historical prices and costs described in this Technical Report Summary; it is subject to change as assumptions and inputs are updated. The information presented does not guarantee future financial or operational performance. The presented information contains forward-looking statements. Please refer to “Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements” at the front of this Technical Report Summary. Financial years ending June 30 Reserves economic viability 2023-2027 2028-2032 2033-2037 2038-2042 2043-2047 2048-2052 2053+ Material Movement (Mineral Reserves and waste) Mt 588 516 433 340 229 136 — Revenue US$ billion 17.7 16.5 11.9 8.7 4.9 3.1 — Operating costs US$ billion (2.5 ) (2.4 ) (2.2 ) (2.0 ) (1.8 ) (1.7 ) — Capital expenditures US$ billion (0.8 ) (0.7 ) (0.5 ) (0.4 ) (0.2 ) (0.1 ) — Closure and rehabilitation US$ billion (0.2 ) (0.1 ) (0.1 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.1 ) (1.1 ) Taxes (including royalties) US$ billion (5.2 ) (4.8 ) (3.3 ) (2.3 ) (1.1 ) (0.3 ) 0.3 After-tax cash flow US$ billion 9.1 8.4 5.8 3.9 1.8 0.9 (0.8 ) Discounted cash flow US$ billion 7.8 5.3 2.7 1.3 0.5 0.2 (0.1 ) Supplemental information for the technical report summary for Jansen Potash Project (Exhibit 96.3 to BHP’s Form 20-F for the year ended June 30, 2022) As discussed in BHP’s response described in the above letter, BHP intends to include at the end of Chapter 19.2 of its technical report summary for Jansen Potash Project the information substantially as set out below. Jansen Potash Project: Economic Analysis – Average annual after-tax cash flows A cash flow summary on an average annual basis is provided in the table below. The annual cash flow is presented with the inputs as averages grouped in time periods where the average annual inputs for each year are substantially the same throughout the relevant grouped period. The closure and rehabilitation costs remaining after the final year of production are presented in aggregate (2122+), and do not represent an annual average. The sole purpose of the annual cash flow data presented below is to demonstrate the economic viability of the mineral reserves for the purposes of reporting in accordance with S-K 1300 only and should not be used for other purposes. The annual cash flow data was prepared based upon Pre-Feasibility-level studies and the historic average prices and costs described in this Technical Report Summary; it is subject to change as assumptions and inputs are updated. The information presented does not guarantee future financial or operational performance. The presented information contains forward-looking statements. Please refer to “Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements” at the front of this Technical Report Summary. Financial years ending June 30 Reserves economic viability 2023-2025 2026-2028 2029-2119 2120-2121 2122+ Material Movement including waste Mt 0 3 11 7 — Revenue US$ billion 0.0 0.2 1.5 0.9 — Operating costs US$ billion (0.0 ) (0.1 ) (0.3 ) (0.2 ) — Capital expenditures US$ billion (0.8 ) (0.5 ) (0.1 ) (0.0 ) — Closure and rehabilitation US$ billion (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.3 )1 Taxes (including royalties) US$ billion (0.0 ) (0.0 ) (0.4 ) (0.3 ) — After-tax cash flow US$ billion (0.8 ) (0.4 ) 0.7 0.4 (0.3 ) Discount cash flow US$ billion (0.8 ) (0.3 ) 0.1 0.0 (0.0 ) 1 Includes the terminal value of C$2.7M in annual post closure monitoring costs