According to Zhitong Financial APP, investors and analysts expect that bhp group ltd (BHP.US) may establish a plan next week to invest at least 7 billion dollars over the next few years to recover more metal from the world's largest copper mine, Escondida in Chile.

BHP Group Ltd will host analysts and investors during its roadshow for the Escondida and Spence copper business from November 17 to 20.

As an important metal for the global transition to clean energy, copper is key to bhp group's growth plans, but by the end of this decade, its annual production is expected to decline by about 0.3 million tons to 1.6 million tons.

In order to maintain stable production, bhp group ltd needs to demonstrate how to extract more copper from Escondida's increasingly declining ore grades and prove that increased spending is justified. UBS group's analysis of bhp group's data shows that the company estimates future spending will be between 7 billion and 12 billion dollars.

"The costs of building everything are rising. That's the reality," said analyst Andy Forster from Argo Investments.

These costs include a new concentrator plant at Escondida, which analysts estimate will range from 5 billion to 6.5 billion dollars.

Bhp group ltd estimates that its capital expenditures, including exploration, will be 10 billion USD for this fiscal year, averaging 11 billion USD in the medium term. It is currently unclear how much of this expenditure in Chile is included in the existing capital expenditure outlook.

Analyst Kaan Peker from royal bank of canada stated, "Bhp group ltd has been very open about their continued bullishness on the long-term fundamentals of copper. This indeed indicates capital expenditures, and it does mean that we will have to transition to an incentivized pricing period."

Peker believes copper prices will trend towards 5 USD per pound or higher. The latest LME copper price is reported at 8,966 USD per ton (equivalent to 4 USD per pound).

Bhp group ltd stated that there are four main ways to expand copper production in Chile: replacing the outdated Los Colorados concentrator, eliminating bottlenecks at the Laguna and Spence concentrators, and applying leaching technology to unlock sulfide resources.

UBS group stated that acquiring Anglo American plc "remains the best option for Bhp group ltd's recent copper trades."

After being rejected earlier this year, united kingdom's acquisition law prohibits bhp group ltd from making a new acquisition offer to Anglo American plc until the end of this month.

"The restructuring of Anglo American plc is progressing well, and it is expected to spin off Amplats after announcing its performance on March 25th to April 25th. We believe that after this, bhp group ltd (and other companies) may reassess Anglo American plc."