Page 75 - Annual Report 2020

1
Transparency BHP’s operated and non-operated tailings portfolio
We support more detailed transparency and integrated disclosure The classifications described herein align to the Canadian Dam
around TSF management and will work with our industry partners Association’s classification system. It is important to note the TSF
to help make sure the disclosure is consistently applied and informs classification is a risk management tool. It reflects the modelled, Strategic Report
better TSF stewardship. We support and have contributed to the hypothetical most significant possible failure and consequences
development of the new Global Industry Standard on Tailings without controls. It does not reflect the current physical stability
Management, which has been developed as an international standard of the dam and it is possible for dam classifications to change over
for safer tailings management, co-convened with the ICMM, the UN time, for example, following changes to the operating context
Environment Programme and the Principles for Responsible Investing. of a dam. As such, this data represents the status of the portfolio
We are assisting the ICMM Tailings Working Group to contribute to as of June 2020. The dam classification informs the design,
improvements in tailings storage management across the mining surveillance and review components of risk management and,
industry. We are participants in other tailings working groups, therefore, dams that will likely have a greater level of consequence
including those associated with the Canadian Dam Association, as a result of failure will have more rigorous requirements than Governance at BHP
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Minerals Council dams that will have a lesser level of consequence.
of Australia, Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, and In total, we have 70 TSFs at our operated assets, 29 of which
(1)
Fundación Chile. We have also participated in the Investor Mining are of upstream design. Of the 70 operated facilities, we have
and Tailings Safety Initiative, an investor-led engagement convening four classified as extreme and a further 16 classified as very high.
institutional investors active in extractive industries, including major Thirteen of our operated facilities are active. The substantial
asset owners and asset managers. inactive portfolio (57) at our operated assets is due largely to the
number of historic tailings facilities associated with our North
American legacy assets portfolio.
There are nine TSFs at our non-operated joint ventures, which are
all located in the Americas. There are two active tailings facilities: Remuneration Report
Antamina in Peru, which is of downstream/centreline construction
and Cantor TSF at Cerrejón in Colombia, which is of downstream
construction. In addition, there are seven inactive facilities. These
include: two upstream facilities at Samarco (Germano) in Brazil that
are being decommissioned following the February 2019 rulings
by the Brazilian Government on upstream dams in Brazil; three
upstream inactive facilities and one inactive modified centreline
facility at Resolution Copper in the United States; and one
downstream inactive facility at Bullmoose in Canada. Directors’ Report

Low 19
Classification of operated Significant 10
High 17
tailings facilities (1) (2) (3) Very high 16
Extreme 4
N/A 4

Types of operated Upstream 29 Financial Statements
Centreline 8
tailings facilities (1) Downstream 17
Other 16
(4)

Operational status of Additional information
operated tailings facilities (1) Inactive 57
(5)
Active 13

(1) The number of Tailings storage facilities (TSFs) is based on the definition agreed to by the ICMM Tailings Advisory Group. We have an increase of 3 TSFs from our Shareholder information
Church of England submission in 2019 due to the updated BHP definition of TSF following the submission.
(2) The following classifications align to the CDA classification system. It is important to note that the classification is based on the modelled, hypothetical most significant
failure mode and consequences possible without controls, and not on the current physical stability of the dam.
(3) For the purposes of this chart, ANCOLD and other classifications have been converted to their CDA equivalent. Hamburgo and Island Copper tailings facilities are
not considered dams and are, therefore, not subject to classification: Hamburgo TSF at Escondida is an inactive facility where tailings were deposited into a natural
depression; and Island Copper TSF in Canada, acquired in the 1980s, is also an inactive facility. Tailings at Island Copper were deposited in the ocean under an
approved licence and environmental impact assessment. This historic practice ceased in the 1990s. We have since committed to not dispose of mine waste rock
or tailings in river or marine environments. SP1 TSF and SP2/3 TSF in Australia are currently undergoing detailed studies to understand their CDA classification.
(4) Other includes dams of a design that combines upstream, downstream and centerline, and the two non-dam tailings facilities of Hamburgo TSF in Chile and Island
Copper TSF in Canada.
(5) Inactive includes facilities not in operational use, under reclamation, reclaimed, closed and/or in post-closure care and maintenance.

BHP Annual Report 2020 73