BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside and Whitehaven release updates

Wet weather has hampered nickel production for BHP, a conveyor belt failure hit Rio Tinto's copper output and two more coalminers are progressing in eastern Australia. 

Some of Australia's biggest resource companies released quarterly production updates on Friday.

BHP lowered its full-year nickel production estimates, saying it now expects to mine between 75 and 85 kilotonnes, down from the 80 and 90 kt previously forecast. 

Heavy rain at BHP's open-pit Mount Keith nickel mine in April hampered production, and BHP has also told third-party product provider Mincor Resources it no longer wants nickel ore with high levels of arsenic due to processing issues. 

BHP's iron ore, coking coal and energy coal forecasts were unchanged despite the wettest weather in a decade impacting coal production. 

Meanwhile Rio Tinto lowered its full-year copper production guidance given issues at its historic Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah, which is expected to operate at reduced rates for months following failure of a conveyor belt linking the mine to a concentrator.

Rio Tinto said it now expects to produce 590,000 to 640,000 tonnes of copper, down from the 650,000 to 710,000 tonnes previously forecast.

In the energy sector, Woodside reaffirmed its full-year production guidance despite March quarter production falling 9 per cent to 46.8 million barrels of oil equivalent because of planned turnaround and maintenance activities.

It said its Scarborough gas project 375km off the coast of WA, and related Pluto Train 2 LNG processing plant near Karratha, was now 30 per cent complete, with the first LNG cargo targeted for 2026.

"We are making good progress on all major growth projects in Australia and globally," Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neill said.

Finally, Whitehaven Coal said its March quarter run-of-mine production was down 12 per cent to 4.3 million tonnes because of labour shortages and flooding events at its Maules Creek coalmine southeast of Narrabri, NSW.

Still it made $1.2 billion in the quarter after selling coal for an average price of $A400 a tonne, down from $527 a tonne in the December quarter but up from $315 a tonne a year ago.

The coalminer had a net cash position of $2.7b on its books as of March 31 and indicated that next week it would resume its share buyback program, which over the past 12-and-a-half months has bought more than $1 billion worth of shares. 

But the buybacks slowed in late March following the fears of banking contagion after the collapse of several US regional banks.

Whitehaven also said it would begin construction in June on an open-cut coalmine in northwest NSW about 25 kilometres north of Gunnedah, at a site previously mined by Rio Tinto in the 1990s.

The $150 million Vickery project is expected to produce its first coal in mid-2024. It could take on people and equipment at Whitehaven's Werris Creek coalmine in northern NSW, which is winding down operations in 2023/24.

Separately, New Wilkie Energy said on Friday it had begun mining at its Wilkie Creek coalmine in Dalby, Qld, about 250km west of Brisbane.

The mine was previously operated by Peabody Energy but had been on care and maintenance mode since 2014.

The mine currently employs about 300 full-time staff and contractors, with the workforce set to increase to 350 in the next year or so. It is expected to produce 2.4 million tonnes per year of thermal coal for markets in Asia.