If BHP are going to go counter-cyclical with M&A (which no-one...

If BHP are going to go counter-cyclical with M&A (which no-one believes anyway) then they should have a watching brief on any Li opportunities because that sector is having a bit of a correction at the moment, although may be more room to drop.

Same for Ni but the problem is there that the Indonesian Ni supply is putting everyone else out of business, and as BHP said - the sulfide Ni producers are not attracting the price premium of ESG/Green/fuzzy feel good Ni that BHP considers that it should be attracting. This highlights how out of touch the upper management of BHP are in that they fail to recognize that Ni users do not care about ESG when they want their Ni stainless steel products. Completely in another world and out of touch with their end-users and customers and Russia sanctions and Indonesian HPAL production came a a surprise to no-one expect BHP.

Their copper division is now weighed down by their South American operations due to permitting, labour supply, falling grades etc etc and the OZL transaction was the key to arresting the slide in the copper business.

Iron Ore is easy unless the construction industry in China comes unstuck. The zinc and lead markets have been down longer than 10 years but I haven't seen them jumping into those commodities, and all we have seen in BHP divesting itself of the higher price profitable commodities lately such as Oil, Coal and Gas. They are too big, slow, stupid and bureaucratic to take opportunities as they arise, and this statement is an admission of such. Trained monkeys could manage these bunch of low cost world class assets and still make a profit.