BHP Group (ASX: BHP) reported better-than-expected full-year earnings and declared its highest annual dividend in four years, boosted by record copper prices that cemented the red metal’s lead over iron ore as the miner’s biggest earnings driver.

Copper prices have climbed to record highs above $14,000 a tonne this year, triggered by the rapid pace of energy-hungry AI data centre buildout and the global shift toward cleaner power, intensifying miners’ race to secure high-grade copper assets.

The red metal, including byproducts such as gold and uranium, generated $18.19 billion in operating earnings in the year, surpassing iron ore’s $14.53 billion as BHP’s top earnings driver.

The world’s top copper producer on Tuesday reported a full-year underlying attributable profit of $13.20 billion for the year ended June 30, above the Visible Alpha consensus of $12.66 billion and last year’s $10.16 billion.

It announced a final dividend of 99 cents per share, bringing the full-year distribution to $1.72 apiece, the highest in four years, the miner said.

CEO Brandon Craig, who took the top job last month, underlined BHP’s solid copper outlook for the next decade.

BHP is well placed to produce as much as 40% more copper by 2035, or 2 million tonnes a year, while copper demand is expected to grow to more than 50 million tons per year by 2050 from 34 million tonnes this year.

BHP’s flagship Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) operations generated $14.67 billion in operating earnings in the year, up 2% from last year and in line with Visible Alpha consensus of $14.75 billion.

The miner said it could unlock up to an additional $3.5 billion in value from its WAIO assets through active capital portfolio and asset management.

Most recently, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) invested $2 billion in the project’s inland power network for a minority stake.

The miner’s net debt at the end of 2026 financial year fell to $8.69 billion, below both the target range of $10 billion to $12 billion and the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $9.10 billion.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar and Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru, Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)