BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, has embarked on a major restructuring of its global business, affecting units from mine planning to decarbonisation and heritage protection, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

The changes led by chief executive officer Mike Henry will see several specialist teams disbanded and their functions reassigned in a bid to cut costs and simplify operations, the AFR reported, without saying where it got the information. Individual commodity units will have more responsibility to run themselves self-sufficiently, it said, adding that BHP has started shedding jobs in Australia.

“As part of our continuous improvement in how we approach work, we have made some changes to better align work activities within assets and support quicker decision-making,” BHP said. It did not comment on job cuts.

BHP – a major producer of everything from iron ore to copper and metallurgical coal – suffered a sharp profit slump in its fiscal first half. While that was largely due to a US$2.5 billion writedown in its nickel business, most major miners have been hit by cost inflation and softer commodity prices.

In its financial results last week, BHP said the cost of mining was higher than prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and warned that while price pressures from energy and logistics had eased, labour costs remained a key risk.

In Australia, BHP’s country president Geraldine Slattery sent a message to staff outlining the changes to functions including health, safety, environment and mine planning.

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The AFR report did not say how many staff members might be affected by the restructure. BLOOMBERG