(Reuters) -BHP Group is likely to appoint Geraldine Slattery, the head of its Australia operations, as its first female chief executive in its 140-year history, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
If appointed, Slattery will be one of only a handful of female CEOs at major global mining firms, with a previous notable name being Cynthia Carroll, the first woman to run Anglo American for five years until 2012.
BHP CEO Mike Henry is expected to step down by the middle of 2026 after five years at the helm,
the report said, citing unnamed people "familiar with the board's thinking".
According to the FT report, the company has said its board was "not in a rush" to make a change.
BHP declined to comment on the matter in an emailed response to Reuters.
Slattery has been at BHP for three decades and previously led the company's U.S. petroleum business.
Other notable female mining top bosses include Mpumi Zikalala, CEO of Kumba Iron Ore in South Africa, and Mfikeyi Makayi, CEO of the Zambia copper unit of KoBold Metals.
BHP, the world's biggest listed miner, regularly rotates top talent through key roles, with internal CEO candidates being mentored for years by the chair and some board members as a sort of pre-screening, a source familiar with the company told Reuters in May.
Peer Rio Tinto also has a new chief executive and appointed insider Simon Trott to the top job in mid-July. Trott earlier headed the company's most profitable iron ore unit.
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Pooja Desai)
