PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) on Tuesday warned that the state’s export coal industry could take several weeks to resume full production following ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.
“We are receiving reports of significant damage to the Blackwater and Moura rail systems that carry coal from the southern and central Bowen basin to the Port of Gladstone, where operations have also been hampered by around 800 mm of rain,” said QRC CEO Michael Roche.
“While the situation is still being assessed by network operator Aurizon, these rail lines to Gladstone could be out of action for up to seven to ten days.”
High winds and heavy rainfall have been lashing Australia’s East Coast since the weekend, with several miners reporting that operations had ceased as a result of flooding.
ASX-listed Yancoal had warned that its Middlemount coal mine could be out of production for at least three weeks, as water is pumped from its openpit operation; however, the miner noted that normal operations were expected to resume this week at its Yarrabee mine.
Roche said that, despite falls of 200 mm to 400 mm in the northern Bowen basin, mines were generally into recovery mode with continuing access to the rail systems serving the Abbot Point and Port of Hay Point export terminals.
“This recovery process will take several days and will result in some loss of coal production, but that is not unusual in the Queensland wet season.
“Coal production was also hampered throughout the state by road closures preventing employees getting to and from work and also by the need for some employees to stay with their families in flood-affected communities.”
He added that, for the most part, normal operations were resuming on Tuesday, but added that the resumption of normal production would be determined by the safe operation of the mines.
“At this stage, it does not appear as though the coal industry has suffered as much damage as it did in the 2010/11 floods but it is also clear that the legacy water issue from that time has not been eased because of the extreme rainfall recorded over recent days.”
Coal seam gas and liquefied natural gas operations have also reported minor disruptions to operation and construction activity, while metals miners have been largely unaffected except for communications outages, Roche said.