【Ferro-alloys.com】：Chief executive officer Mike Henry has reaffirmed BHP’s iron ore supremacy, pointing to world-leading margins and superior cash generation.

“We’re the highest margin major iron ore business in the world. We’re generating a full $10 per tonne more free cash flow than our next largest competitor,” Henry said in an interview with CNBC.

While copper growth has attracted attention, iron ore remains central to BHP’s earnings. Henry said steel production in China, the largest market for iron ore, has been maintained at over one billion tonnes for many years.

“Some of the underpinning drivers of demand for steel in China do remain strong over the medium to long term,” he said. “We expect that to come under a bit of pressure as China moves into its next phase of economic development, but we have the lowest cost, most reliable iron ore business in the world. That position does well for all markets.”

BHP recently announced a $US4.3 billion silver streaming deal linked to the Antamina mine in Peru, which Henry said demonstrates disciplined capital allocation.

“This unlocks cash capital,” he said. “We can redeploy the growth and you’ll see that today, our dividend for the half year was above consensus.

“Part of what’s enabled that, of course, was our very strong operating results from the past half where we set records in both our iron ore and copper business.”

BHP’s Australian copper operations helped drive the record results, with Copper South Australia and Olympic Dam leading production and pushing copper to 51 per cent of underlying EBITDA.

“We continue to prosecute our strategy of operational excellence, distinctive social value creation and growth in copper and potash,” BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry said.

“We have achieved 30 per cent growth in copper production in the last four years, positioning us ahead of the strengthening copper market that we had anticipated.”

• [Editor:Alakay]