The loss of US$914 million (after tax) relates to the Samarco dam failure, which occurred in November 2015, and comprises the following:

 

 

The Group recognised costs of US$224 million (after tax) associated with the transition of operations to temporary suspension. costs of US$320 million included US$410 million related to employee redundancies, contract termination costs and inventory adjustments, offset by US$90 million impairment reversals of certain assets from Nickel West operations to be redeployed to other operations within the Group.

The exceptional items relating to the years ended 30 June 2024 and 30 June 2023 are detailed below.

 

The loss of US$3,762 million (after tax) related to the Samarco dam failure, which occurred in November 2015, and comprised the following:

 

 

 

The Group recognised an impairment charge of US$2,675 million (after tax) in relation to the Western Australia Nickel assets. The impairment charge reflected the oversupply in the global nickel market that had seen a sharp decline in forward nickel prices in the short to medium term, escalation in capital costs for Western Australia Nickel, and changes to development plans including the Group’s decision, announced on 11 July 2024, to temporarily suspend Nickel West operations and the West Musgrave project at Western Australia Nickel. Refer to note 13 ‘Impairment of assets’ for further information.

On 2 April 2024 BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP) completed the divestment of the Blackwater and Daunia mines (which were part of the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA)) to Whitehaven Coal. Each of BHP and MDP held a 50% interest in BMA.

Whitehaven Coal paid a US$100 million deposit on signing of the Asset Sale Agreement on 18 October 2023 and a further US$2 billion cash on completion plus a preliminary completion adjustment of US$44.1 million for working capital and other agreed adjustments (100% interest basis).

US$1.1 billion in cash remain payable over 3 years after completion and a potential additional amount up to US$0.9 billion in a price-linked earnout may also be payable over 3 years (100% interest basis). The price-linked earnout is subject to a cap of US$350 million each year and depends on average realised pricing exceeding agreed thresholds for each of the 3

The total cash consideration for the transaction could be up to US$4.1 billion plus the final completion adjustment amount (100% interest basis).

Details of the gain on divestment was as follows:

 

 

 

The loss of US$323 million (after tax) related to the Samarco dam failure, which occurred in November 2015, and comprised the following:

 

 

 

On 17 May 2023, the Chilean Lower House approved a Royalty Bill which would implement a 1 per cent royalty on revenues, a margin based tax with rates ranging between 8 per cent and 26 per cent, and a 46.5 per cent cap to the overall Chilean tax burden of mining companies.

The President of the Lower House formally declared the legislative process complete on 12 June 2023, following receipt of the Chilean President’s formal confirmation that he had waived his veto power to oppose any of the provisions of the Royalty Bill. On 13 July 2023, the Constitutional Court finalised its review of certain aspects of the Royalty Bill, relating only to the distribution of proceeds.

Applying judgement, it was determined that the proposed tax rates were substantively enacted prior to 30 June 2023, as the scope of the Constitutional Court review did not extend to reviewing the tax rates.

While the timing of when the Group’s operations will be impacted by the reform depends on existing stability agreements, relevant deferred tax positions were remeasured by US$283 million in the Group’s FY2023 Financial Statements.