Mike Henry: the measured man shaking up the world’s biggest miner

Mike Henry: the measured man shaking up the world’s biggest miner

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Since Mike Henry took the helm of the world’s biggest mining company in January 2020 he has been barely been able to travel because of the pandemic.

That changed this month when he made the 10,000-mile journey from BHP’s headquarters in Melbourne to its London outpost so that he could announce the biggest corporate shake-up since the merger that created the company 20 years ago.

Henry had to seek permission from the Australian government to make the trip and he will have to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine on his return. But he hopes the effort will be worth it as he seeks to persuade shareholders to back changes that will see BHP exit oil and gas and unify its complex corporate structure by moving to a primary stock market listing Sydney, forcing it to drop out of the FTSE 100.

He also announced plans to spend $5.7bn to finish the development of a huge Canadian potash fertiliser project, which he believes could become another leg for the business alongside copper, iron ore and coking coal.

Presenting the sweeping changes on Tuesday, Henry said the aim was