Full-year production came in at 275 million tonnes.

The miner also said its plans to divest its underperforming US shale oil and gas assets were "progressing" and it hoped to announce "one or more transactions" within the coming months. It is targeting completion of any transactions by the end of this calendar year.

BHP has reportedly received bids for the US shale and oil gas assets in excess of $US10 billion.

Investors strongly welcomed the BHP operational update, pushing its shares more than 3 per cent higher in the first 10 minutes of trade to $33.52.

Record production

BHP revealed that full-year iron ore production rose 3 per cent to 275 million tonnes (including joint-venture partners). Record production at BHP's Newman and Jimblebar facilities helped lift the miner's quarterly iron ore production (excluding joint-venture partners) by a solid 10 per cent to 64 million tonnes.

The miner reported record metallurgical coal production for the year, of 42.6 million tonnes, a 7 per cent rise on the previous year. Improved productivity, "de-bottlenecking" and higher truck hours helped drive the increase, BHP said.

Combined, BHP's copper assets lifted total copper production by 32 per cent to 1.75 million tonnes, with the company's Spence copper mine in Chile delivering record production.

The miner said it had met or exceeded full-year production guidance for iron ore, petroleum, copper and energy coal in the June quarter, and met revised guidance for metallurgical coal.

“We have delivered a strong finish to the 2018 financial year with an 8 per cent increase in annual production and record output at Western Australia Iron Ore, Queensland Coal and at our Spence copper mine in Chile," BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said.

"Good prices and our culture of continuous improvement give us positive momentum into the 2019 financial year.”

Samarco charge

The miner said the Samarco charge largely reflected "updated assumptions relating to the continuation of the fishing ban, the number of eligible claimants, and the timeline and technical scope for resettlement of the communities".

BHP, miner Vale and Brazilian authorities last month reached a deal to extinguish a $US5.3 billion lawsuit related to the dam collapse. A peace deal was also brokered that led to the suspension of a separate BRL155 billion (about $US41.5 billion) civil claim over the disaster by Brazilian prosecutors.

BHP and Vale were joint-venture partners in the Samarco iron ore business in 2015 when the tailings dam wall burst, sending a torrent of water along the Rio Doce river system that caused vast human and environmental damage.

Rio Tinto update

BHP's quarterly report was released just a day after fellow major miner Rio Tinto released a strong June-quarter update. Rio Tinto said its exports of iron ore from the Pilbara jumped 14 per cent in the quarter to 88.5 million tonnes, compared to the same period last year.

Rio's quarterly result puts it on track to hit "the upper end" of its 2018 guidance range for iron ore shipments,  which is 330 to 340 million tonnes.

The BHP quarterly report comes a month after the mining giant revealed that its board had approved spending of $US2.9 billion on a new iron ore mine in the Pilbara to be known as South Flank. BHP said the project would deliver more than 25 years of production, a "price premium" for its products and lift the iron content of its ores.