When a company that has been around in some form since 1885 hits a new all-time high, it's a notable occasion indeed. That's exactly what we saw with mining giant BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares this Wednesday.
BHP closed at $59.78 a share yesterday evening. But this morning, those same shares opened at $60.75 each before rising as high as $62.30. That, you guessed it, is the 'Big Australian's' new record high. BHP shares have cooled off a little from that high. At the time of writing, the miner is trading at $61.48, up a happy 2.84% for the day thus far.
So why are BHP shares at such a pinnacle today?
Image source: Getty Images
Why did the 'Big Australian' just hit a new all-time record high?
Well, it's hard to know for sure. We haven't got any price-sensitive news out of the company for a while now. Since the quarterly activities report from 22 April, to be specific.
However, there are some factors we can point to that may be helping BHP shares to till fresh ground.
Firstly, as my Fool colleague James noted today, BHP has just announced the appointment of Mark Vassella as a Non-Executive Director. Vasella is an industry veteran, having served many years as CEO of BlueScope Steel Ltd (ASX: BSL). Perhaps the market has taken a shine to this news.
Secondly, copper prices have continued to soar to new heights this week. As we covered yesterday, the red metal has cracked US$6.40 per pound as a perfect storm of low supply and high demand takes hold. Copper is one of the world's hottest metals right now. Its uses stretch from electric vehicles to solar panels and data centres. Indeed, electric vehicles require significantly more copper than traditional internal combustion vehicles, indicating that demand isn't going away anytime soon.
Copper happens to be one of BHP's most significant operations, with the mining pivoting decisively to a focus on copper a few years ago. This seems to be paying off well for the company, considering today's new share price heights.
BHP share price snapshot
BHP shares have had an extraordinary year in 2026. The miner is currently up a whopping 34.25% year to date so far, a gain that stretches to 56.75% over the past 12 months. If an investor was lucky enough to buy BHP shares in April of last year, they would be up more than 73% today.
At the current BHP share price, this ASX 200 mining stock is trading on a market capitalisation of just under $313 billion, with a trailing dividend yield of 3.18%.
