ASX mining shares like South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) are a popular choice among Australian investors looking for passive income.
The attraction is simple. When commodity prices are strong, large-scale miners can generate a huge amount of cash and return a good portfolio to their shareholders in the form of dividends.
But what exactly would it entail to earn the passive income you want?
Let's take a look at what it takes to earn $6,000 off South32 shares in FY26.
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What passive income does South32 pay its shareholders?
First, we need to understand what dividends the mining giant pays its shareholders.
South32 typically pays its investors twice-yearly dividends: an interim dividend in April and a final dividend in October.
South32 paid a fully-franked interim dividend of 3.9 US cents (equivalent to 5.52 AUD cents) per share in April.
As part of its FY26 results announcement this morning, the miner declared another final 5.4 US cent (equivalent of 7.5 AU cents) dividend will be paid to shareholders in October.
That comes to a total FY26 dividend of 9.3 US cents (equivalent of 13 AU cents) per security.
At the time of writing, this translates to a dividend yield of around 1.8% for FY26.
So, how many South32 shares do I need to generate $6,000 of passive income every year?
Using the FY26 total dividend payment of 13 cents per share, investors would need to own around 46,154 South32 shares in order to earn $6,000 in passive income.
What would that cost me?
At the time of writing, South32 shares are $5.14 each.
That means, in order to buy the 46,154 shares needed for $6,000 of annual passive income in FY26, you would need to invest roughly $237,231.
It's not a small amount, but it could be worth it in the long run.
And remember, you don't need to invest the entire amount in one go. Start off small and let compound growth do some of the work for you.
Could South32 shares climb higher in value this year?
The experts are optimistic about the outlook for South32 shares over the next 12 months.
Market Index shows the majority of brokers have a buy rating on the mining stock. But the $4.94 average target price now implies a potential 4% downside ahead.
Sentiment is also mostly positive on TradingView. The data shows that the majority of analysts (seven out of 14) have a buy/strong buy rating on the shares. Another six rate South32 shares as a hold.
But after the latest rally, the average $4.77 target price now implies a potential downside of around 7%, at the time of writing.
