MELBOURNE, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The world's biggest

mining company, BHP, touted its solid copper potential

and flagged the investment appeal of the United States on

Monday, but was silent on the prospect of major buyouts, as top

executives briefed shareholders.

CEO Mike Henry and Chief Financial Officer Vandita Pant

answered select questions in the first major opportunity to talk

to investors since last week's blockbuster tieup of one-time

target Anglo American and Teck Resources ( TECK ).

Their answers focused on growth potential from BHP's

Argentinian copper assets, the United States' investment allure,

and production delays at BHP's Jansen potash project in Canada.

It was unclear if all questions submitted by shareholders

were asked. BHP did not immediately reply to a request for

comment on how it chose the questions to answer.

"The copper growth story for BHP is one of the big stories,"

Henry said. "We have made so much progress...We now have four

big copper growth basins on top of the 28% copper growth that we

have seen in recent years."

Those basins include the Vicuna 50-50 joint venture with

Lundin Mining ( LUNMF ) in Argentina, the U.S. Resolution tie-up

with Rio Tinto, Escondida in Chile and BHP's South

Australian copper operations.

Henry sidestepped a question whether the miner was

interested in buying Toronto-listed NGEX Minerals ( NGXXF )

which is also active in Argentina's Vicuna district. NGEX did

not respond to a request for comment outside office hours.

The question of big ticket mergers and acquisitions was not

tackled. The $53-billion Ango-Teck tie-up announced last week is

widely expected to spur more M&A action, in a breakthrough after

years of failed consolidation efforts in the mining sector.

The deal came just over a year after BHP scrapped a

$49-billion bid for Anglo that would in a single acquisition

have beefed up the Australian miner's holding in copper, seen as

essential to the energy transition.

Investors and bankers told Reuters last week that they did

not expect BHP to gatecrash the current deal, since it is

focusing on expanding its own copper assets during a time of

leadership renewal.

Henry also said the United States, with half the power costs

of Australia, was focused on drawing in mining investment, as

Australia reviews productivity.

He also conceded that BHP's anticipated internal rate of

return from its Jansen investment would come under pressure

after it raised capital expenditure estimates in July and pushed

back first production.