Global attributable iron ore production was 227 million tonnes, below the revised guidance of 229Mt and 2% lower than the 2015 financial year due to the suspension of Samarco.

Western Australian iron ore (WAIO) production was a record 257Mt (on a 100% basis), below the revised guidance of 260Mt.

The company said WAIO performed at an annualised rate of 275Mt in June and has set guidance at 265-275Mt for the coming year.

BHP’s coal, copper and petroleum production exceeded guidance for the year, but all but metallurgical coal posted lower production than in FY15.

Copper production of 1.58Mt was 8% lower due to lower grades at Escondida. Output is expected to rise to 1.7Mt in FY17

Olympic Dam copper production jumped by 63% to 203,000t and should remain at those levels in the next 12 months.

Energy coal production dropped by 16% to 34Mt due to the divestment of San Juan and poor weather, while metallurgical coal output grew by 1% to 43Mt due to record performances at five Queensland mines.

BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie said the company expected to achieve full-year cost guidance for its major assets.

“Over the next 12 months, we expect volumes and costs across our minerals businesses to benefit from our continued drive to safely improve productivity,” he said.

“We can create significant value through further cost reductions, taking advantage of latent capacity in our assets and investing in low-capital projects.

“These initiatives are expected to grow production by 5% in copper, up to 4% in iron ore and 3% in metallurgical coal in the next financial year.”

For FY16, the average realised iron ore price dropped by 30% to $US43 per wet metric tonne free-on-board.

The average copper price dropped by 23% to $2.16 per pound, while nickel was down 39% to $8792/t.

Oil prices plunged by 43%, while coking coal prices dropped by just over 20%.

BHP flagged charges of up to $175 million in its underlying attributable profit figure to be released next month, based on redundancies and coal impairments, which should be offset by reversal of some previous write-downs due to an improvement in commodity prices.

The company said it was not yet in a position to be able to provide an update on the potential financial impacts of the Samarco dam disaster.

Exploration expenditure for the year was $175 million, mainly focused on copper in the Americas.

Shares in BHP fell by A70.5c in early trade to $19.125.