BHP weighs reopening mines in historic U.S. copper belt, FT reports

BHP’s chief executive said the company is weighing whether to resurrect defunct mines in the historic U.S. copper belt, as the “breathtaking” shift in government policy turbocharged the country’s extraction industry, Financial Times’ Leslie Hook reports. Mike Henry, who leads the world’s largest mining group, said initiatives put in place under President Donald Trump had led the company to increase exploration in the U.S., and prompted a review of its options in Arizona, the heart of the U.S. copper industry. Henry pinned the changes to a “breathtaking level of ambition and urgency” in the U.S. around the supply of critical minerals, part of Trump’s push to secure resources and better compete with China, the author adds.