Australian Metals & Mining Weekly: BofA global MM&S conference feedback + BSL demerger scenario

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Australian Metals & Mining Weekly: BofA global MM&S conference feedback + BSL demerger scenario

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Australian Metals & Mining Weekly

BofA global MM&S conference feedback +

BSL demerger scenario

Industry Overview

Conf feedback: Big Miners, Big Gold, Big Copper, panels 17 May 2026

Common themes: 1) Copper the focus commodity. Permitting projects is becoming Equity

harder from exploration through to mining approvals 2) Grade decline is real. Iron ore Australia

and copper. Codelco grade down 13% over past 4yrs. 3) The push for bifurcated supply Metals & Mining

chains creates opportunities. Steel=national security. Government support is helping i.e. Kate McCutcheon >>

rare earths pricing, steel EU TRQ game changer. 4) Industry is working hard to find a Research Analyst

technology to exploit lower grades but still a work in progress. 5) M&A: ‘bolt on’ over Merrill+61 2 9226Lynch5728(Australia)

‘big’. Increased appetite for collaboration to unlock synergies. War impact: Mixed. kate.mccutcheon@bofa.com

Supply vs demand. See our Day 1 feedback: Big Miners, Big Steel, Big Copper. And Day Jason Fairclough >>

Research Analyst

2 here: “Big Gold”, industrial metals, more panels! Tungsten: Critical and scarce yet MLI (UK)

underrecognised. See our take on GGP’s tungsten here: O’Callaghans: sell, spin or keep? . jason.fairclough@bofa.com

Chen Jiang >>

Company "one-liners" from ASX listed miners ResearchMerrill LynchAnalyst(Australia)

chen_jiang@bofa.comS32: South32: New CEO Matt Daley. Arizona reset = Growth from here. Aluminium

leverage. NEM: World leader in gold offering substantial capital return. FMG: Still Lawson Winder, CFA >>

driving mining decarb. Green spend in focus. Pivot to copper? BHP: New CEO, Brandon Merrill Lynch (Canada)

Craig. Operational Delivery.