June 19 (Reuters) – Shares of BHP Group slid on Friday after the world’s largest listed miner flagged cost overruns at its Jansen Stage 2 potash project in Canada and disclosed a $2.3 billion charge.
The Melbourne-based company’s stock fell as much as 4.4% to A$62.21, putting it on track for its worst session since March 9.
The stock also hit its lowest level since June 12.
In a statement late on Thursday, BHP raised the estimated investment for the project’s second stage to $6.9 billion from $4.9 billion.
The latest revision marks the third time BHP has exceeded cost and timeline estimates across the two stages of the project, underscoring a fresh setback to its decade-long strategy to diversify beyond copper and iron ore.
The miner also said the revised costs will result in an impairment charge of about $2.3 billion for the potash project.
(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
