** Shares of Australia's Sandfire Resources SFR.AX fall as much as 4.1% to A$18.58, post their biggest intraday percentage drop since Dec 30

** Copper explorer says it achieved group copper equivalent production of 72.1kt in H1 FY26, nearly 5% lower than previous year

** Reports underlying operations EBITDA of $187 million for Q2 vs $153 million in the corresponding period of prior year

** Retains all production, cost and capex guidance for FY26 with volumes now expected to be more heavily weighted towards H2 FY26 - SFR

** SFR up 5.8% YTD

(Reporting by Keshav Singh Chundawat in Bengaluru)

((Keshav.singhchundawat@thomsonreuters.com))