Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares caught plenty of investor attention – and our headlines – this week.
That's because both S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining giants reported their September quarter results over the week.
BHP reported on Tuesday with Fortescue's results following on Thursday.
As for their share price performance, BHP shares closed the week down 1.4% while the Fortescue share price gained 1.7%.
Here's what's been happening.
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Fortescue shares lift on record iron ore shipments
Fortescue outperformed BHP shares over the week, with the stock gaining 2.4% on Thursday following the miner's Q1 FY 2026 results release.
Highlights for the three months to September included record iron ore shipments of 49.7 million tonnes, up 4% year-on-year.
Fortescue ended the quarter with a cash balance of US$4.6 billion. The company had net debt of US$1.9 billion after paying out the fully franked US$1.2 billion FY 2025 final dividend.
The ASX 200 miner maintained its FY 2026 guidance of total iron ore shipments in the range of 195 million to 205 million tonnes.
"Fortescue remains positioned as a low-cost, capital-efficient operator, maximising value across our operations," Fortescue Metals and Operations CEO Dino Otranto said.
On the company's decarbonisation efforts, he added:
We're continuing to see delivery of this on the ground, with 10 electric excavators in operation and construction of our 190MW solar farm at Cloudbreak now more than one third complete.
BHP shares get a copper boost
BHP shares also enjoyed a boost on the day the miner reported its September quarter results, closing up 2.3% on Tuesday.
Over the three months BHP reported iron ore production of 64 million tonnes, down 1% year-on-year. Positively, the miner achieved a 5% increase in its average realised iron ore price to US$84.04 per wet metric tonne (wmt).
And BHP shares look to have gotten a boost from its growing copper profile. Copper production for the quarter was up 4% year-on-year to 494,000 tonnes, with the average realised copper price up 8% to US$4.59 per pound.
BHP also reported an 8% increase in steelmaking coal output to 4.9 million tonnes.
The ASX 200 mining stock maintained its FY 2026 production guidance across all its major commodity divisions.
Commenting on the quarterly achievements, BHP CEO Mike Henry said:
We progressed key growth and decarbonisation milestones in the quarter, including securing environmental approval for the Laguna Seca Expansion at Escondida and Copper South Australia entering into its largest renewable electricity agreement.
Both stages of the Jansen potash project in Canada are advancing, with Stage 1 reaching 73% completion and on track for production to begin in 2027, while Stage 2 is now 13% complete. The long-term demand fundamentals for potash are attractive, and Jansen is expected to be one of the lowest cost producers.
