If you've been following along with the markets, you'll know it's already been a big week for BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares.
Not so much because of the share price gains, but rather for setting some remarkable new milestones. Though heading into Friday morning's opening bell, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining stock are well into the green over the first four trading days of the week.
BHP shares closed on Thursday trading for $53.23, putting the stock up 4.11% since last Friday's close. That sees the share price up 29.89% since this time last year, not including dividends.
Now, here's what's been grabbing ASX investor attention this week.
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BHP shares lift on surging copper earnings
BHP shares closed up 4.7% on Tuesday, the day the company released its half-year earnings results (H1 FY 2026).
Among the highlights of the six months to 31 December, the miner reported an 11% year-on-year increase in revenue to US$27.90 billion.
And profits attributable to shareholders surged 28% to US$5.64 billion.
Now, here's what I found particularly noteworthy.
BHP's underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 25% to US$15,46 billion, with underlying EBITDA from the miner's copper division surging 59% to US$8 billion.
This marks the first time the company's copper division has contributed more than half of BHP's earnings. A milestone spurred by a 32% year-on-year increase in the average realised price the miner received for the red metal, at US$5.28 per pound.
And BHP shares look to have gotten a boost when management upgraded full-year FY 2026 copper production guidance to the range of 1.9 million to 2.0 million tonnes. BHP produced 984,000 tonnes of the red metal in H1.
On Thursday, copper was trading for US$12,912 per tonne, up more than 36% in a year.
Passive income boost
With profits surging, passive income investors will also have been attracted to BHP shares after management declared a fully-franked interim dividend of 73 US cents (AU$1.03) a share.
That's up more than 30% in Aussie dollar terms and up 46% in US dollars.
If you'd like to score the latest BHP dividend, you'll need to own shares at market close on 4 March. The ASX 200 mining stock trades ex-dividend on 5 March.
BHP shares embracing silver
Separately on Tuesday, BHP announced it had entered into a long-term streaming agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals Corp (NYSE: WPM).
The agreement will see BHP receive an upfront payment of US$4.3 billion at completion.
As the Motley Fool's James Mickleboro explained, for that tidy sum, BHP will "deliver silver to Wheaton calculated by reference to its share of silver produced at the Antamina mine in Peru".
