World's biggest miner BHP sticks with a ‘safe pair of hands’ as its new leader

The world’s biggest miner has promoted the chief executive’s right-hand man to succeed him.

Mike Henry, 53, takes over at BHP in January from Andrew Mackenzie, who has run the company since 2013.

The Canadian, who runs BHP’s Australia operations including its flagship iron ore assets, fought off stiff competition from Daniel Malchuk, head of BHP’s Americas division, and Peter Beavan, chief financial officer.

Henry is viewed by analysts as a “safe pair of hands” and had been Mackenzie’s right-hand man at BHP for a number of years. Henry has worked at the firm for 16 years and been in the mining industry for three decades.

Paul Gait, analyst at Bernstein, said: “This is not a radical contrarian appointment and anyone looking for big changes will be disappointed.”

Sources close to the company said he is expected to spend the first six months of his tenure travelling around BHP’s global operations before taking any significant strategic decisions.

Decisions need to be made over whether the firm keeps its oil operations, while its potash project at Jansen in Canada has also faced mounting criticism. BHP has spent billions on the project in Saskatchewan, but potash has yet to be produced at the mine.

Henry will earn a base salary of $1.7 million (£1.3 million) a year, consistent with that of Mackenzie’s. During Mackenzie’s tenure, BHP had to deal with the fallout from a dam failure at a Brazilian joint venture in 2015, which claimed the lives of 19 people.