THIS IS SO SAD...GOOD I FEEL FOR THESE PEOPLE.
Mines Close, Ships Flee as Australia Braces for Impact of Tropical Cyclone
By Rebecca Keenan -Feb 2, 2011 2:48 AM MT
Coal and zinc mines are shut and at least 32coal ships are steaming out to sea, joining sugarcane and banana farmersin northeastern Australia in bracing for the forecast landfall latertoday of Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Photographer: Jack Atley/Bloomberg
Coal and zinc mines are shut and atleast 32 coal ships are steaming out to sea, as sugarcane andbanana farmers in northeastern Australia brace for the forecastlandfall today of Tropical Cyclone Yasi.
Century, the world’s second-largest zinc mine, is slowingoperations because of the category five cyclone, Bruce Loveday,a spokesman for Minmetal Resources Ltd.’s MMG unit, said todayby phone. Kagara Ltd. shut its Mt. Garnet zinc mine andtreatment plant, Chairman Kim Robinson said by phone.
Rio Tinto Group and Xstrata Plc shut coal mines, whileports and rail lines are closed as Queensland prepares forCyclone Yasi, packing winds of 290 kilometers (180 miles) anhour. The state is the world’s biggest supplier of steelmakingcoal and its northern region accounts for about a third ofAustralia’s sugarImpact of Tropical Cyclone
By Rebecca Keenan -Feb 2, 2011 2:48 AM MT
Coal and zinc mines are shut and at least 32coal ships are steaming out to sea, joining sugarcane and banana farmersin northeastern Australia in bracing for the forecast landfall latertoday of Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Photographer: Jack Atley/Bloomberg
Coal and zinc mines are shut and atleast 32 coal ships are steaming out to sea, as sugarcane andbanana farmers in northeastern Australia brace for the forecastlandfall today of Tropical Cyclone Yasi.
Century, the world’s second-largest zinc mine, is slowingoperations because of the category five cyclone, Bruce Loveday,a spokesman for Minmetal Resources Ltd.’s MMG unit, said todayby phone. Kagara Ltd. shut its Mt. Garnet zinc mine andtreatment plant, Chairman Kim Robinson said by phone.
Rio Tinto Group and Xstrata Plc shut coal mines, whileports and rail lines are closed as Queensland prepares forCyclone Yasi, packing winds of 290 kilometers (180 miles) anhour. The state is the world’s biggest supplier of steelmakingcoal and its northern region accounts for about a third ofAustralia’s sugarcane production.
“There will be an effect on mining, there will certainlybe some effect on the farming sector,” said Andrew Sekely, headof Australian equities at Intersuisse Ltd. “In the case offarmers, there will be some stock and crop losses which mayforce food prices up.”
‘Extreme Threat’
The city of Cairns evacuated hospitals and clearedresidents. Yasi was 250 kilometers east of Cairns at 4 p.m.local time, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Categoryfive is the highest level in the storm classification system.The storm poses an “extremely serious threat to life andproperty within the warning area,” the bureau said.
The last category five cyclone that crossed the Queenslandcoast was in 1918, state Premier Anna Bligh said today.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, is“closely monitoring the path of the cyclone,” the Melbourne-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.
Xstrata evacuated its Townsville port and refinery andhalted operations at its Bowen Coke site in Queensland,according to an e-mailed statement today. The situation at itsMount Isa and Ernest Henry mine sites is being assessed, it said.
BHP operates seven coal mines in the Bowen Basin inQueensland, as part of the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance, theworld’s biggest supplier of coking coal used in steelmaking. Italso manages two other mines in the region. Coal producers inQueensland are still trying to recover from record flooding,which has hampered output and sent global prices surging.
“We are going to have some slowdowns for a couple ofdays,” MMG spokesman Loveday said. The Century mine is about900 kilometers west of Townsville and normally produces500,000 tons of zinc a year.
Fly-In, Fly-Out
Most of the mine workers “fly-in, fly-out from eitherTownsville or Cairns,” Loveday said. The mine usually has 700people on site and will have less than 100.
Queensland Nickel Pty, a company controlled by billionaire Clive Palmer, yesterday closed its Yabulu refinery. The planthas an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons of nickel and2,000 tons of cobalt. Resolute Mining Ltd. today shut itsRavenswood gold mine, 95 kilometers southwest of Townsville.
Kagara is operating its two other mines at Balcooma andMungana on a skeleton staff, Robinson said. “We’ll stay here,bunker down in a safe spot,” he said from the Mt. Garnet mine,which is about 160 kilometers southwest from Cairns. “We justhope it’s not too bad.”
Cyclone Larry
The cyclone is forecast to be more severe than CycloneLarry, which wiped out most of Australia’s banana crop anddevastated sugar cane fields almost five years ago. Bananaplantations in the region, account for 85 percent of nationalproduction.
“We are anticipating a lot of damage to the mainproduction area, and it just remains to be seen how devastatingthe winds will be,” Australian Banana Growers’ Council chiefexecutive officer Jonathan Eccles said today by phone.
Losses to the sugar cane industry may be A$500 million($506 million), Steve Greenwood, chief executive officer ofindustry group Canegrowers, said in an e-mail today. A third ofAustralia’s sugar cane is produced from the area north ofTownsville, it said.
Australia has 25 sugar