BHP is planning a restructure of its Australian iron ore business as new chief executive Brandon Craig pushes a wider cost-cutting program, Bloomberg reported on November 12, citing people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the plans are not public. BHP declined to comment.
According to the report, BHP has already cut 300 on-site workers from the division and expects to reduce numbers further, primarily from its white-collar base. The Western Australia Iron Ore arm employs more than 16,000 employees and contractors. The overhaul of the Perth-based division is expected to simplify management and move support functions directly under the mining assets they serve rather than holding them in separate divisions.
The changes build on efforts begun under former chief executive Mike Henry and are expected to extend beyond iron ore, with other divisions also facing examination and possible job cuts, the people said. The driver is arithmetic: expenses across the mining industry have risen while prices for iron ore, the steelmaking ingredient that anchors BHP’s earnings, have softened.
BHP’s cost position frames the move. The company says it remains the Pilbara’s lowest-cost major iron ore producer, with mining expenses of about $16.40 a tonne in its last financial year, against benchmark futures prices closer to $90 a tonne. Rio Tinto’s Pilbara unit cash costs were about $25 a tonne in the first half of 2026. A restructuring aimed at the lowest-cost producer in the basin is a statement about where management expects prices and costs to settle, not a response to distress.
Because the plan is unannounced and sourced to unnamed people, its scope and timing may change. What is confirmed is the direction: the same morning, BHP announced a projects executive as its next chief financial officer, completing a leadership team built around delivery and cost control.