HEAVEY RAINFALL/FLOODING
Heavy rainfall disrupts coking coal mining in Australia's Queensland
Singapore (Platts)--20Mar2012/306 am EDT/706 GMT
Heavy rainfall in the last 48 hours has caused significant disruption at several coking coal mines in the Moranbah region of the Bowen Basin, in Australia's Queensland, market sources said Tuesday.
The Jellinbah Group's Lake Vermont mine, which produces 4 million mt/year of hard coking coal and PCI was shut following close to 100 mm of rain since Sunday, said sources.
But there was no immediate confirmation from the company.
There was talk that a number of mines in the region were being impacted, including high-quality coking coal and PCI mines owned by BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance, Anglo American, Peabody and Rio Tinto.
Article continues below...
|
| Complimentary Platts Webinar: Iron Ore - How Precious a Metal? |
| Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 11 am GMT, online |
 |
Speakers from The Steel Index and Platts align to discuss one of the world's hottest commodities and the opportunities for everyone in the game. Join these experts as they address: |
 |
|
• Global supply &
demand dynamics |
• Cost economics of iron ore |
|
• Options & "The Switch" -
The evolution of spot pricing |
• Freight market developments and impacts on the iron ore trade |
|
 |
|
|
|
"Heavy rainfall is being experienced across much of central Queensland, including our Hail Creek and Clermont mines," a spokesman at Rio Tinto said in an email Tuesday. "These sites are working through their wet weather management procedures."
"The disruption started Monday," a Brisbane-based mining executive said Tuesday. "It's pretty widespread across the Northern Bowen Basin."
Haulage was being affected by wet mining pits and ramps, and mines may have to close due to access being cut off for the next work shift to get to site, he said. Mines could also be shutting for health and safety reasons, if medical access cannot be guaranteed, he added.
"It's pretty significant [volume of] rain," another miner said, saying he was still working out what the implications were.
On the possible impact the disruptions could have on the market, a miner said: "Yesterday [Monday] I would have said the market was flat, but today, my personal view is that the rain has to have an impact, though some of it will be absorbed by stocks at the mines."
The rainfall comes at a crucial time in coking coal contract negotiations for April-June 2012, between miner Anglo American and large steelmakers in South Korea and Japan.
GOONYELLA RAIL LINE, DBCT CLOSED
The Goonyella rail system in Queensland, a key transportation link for Bowen Basin coking coal mines was shut Tuesday morning, after heavy rainfall caused flooding on a section of the track, operator QR National said, while sources reported that the world's largest coking coal export port Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal was also closed.
"Continuing heavy rainfall in North Queensland has resulted in QR National closing the track this morning between Coppabella and the ports of Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point, near Mackay," a QR National spokesman told Platts via email Tuesday.
The Goonyella system east of Coppabella was closed at 7:25 am local time (2125 GMT, Monday) today, said a note sent Tuesday morning by train operator Pacific National to a customer, with torrential rainfall causing flooding between the Mindi and South Walker (Bee Creek) section of track.
Meanwhile, Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal was reportedly closed on Monday and will remain closed until Wednesday due to heavy rainfall and and the closure of the Goonyella line, several market sources reported.
The likely length of the rail closure was unclear.
The Pacific National note said that the track would not be reopened until it had been inspected and confirmed to be safe for operations by QR National Network Services. An inspection was to take place at 1:00 pm local time Tuesday, once weather conditions improved.
But a miner said he had received a note from Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal predicting the closure could last until Saturday. "This [would be] the equivalent of 1.25 million mt of railings [not being transported]," the miner estimated.
The Goonyella system links 30 mines to DBCT and Hay Point Coal Terminal.
Operations west of Coppabella remain open, the QR National spokesman said, adding that the Newlands and Blackwater systems also remained open.
Elsewhere, a market source reported that traffic on the Moura Line had been interrupted by a bridge collapse, though this could not be verified. The 228 km Moura line links five coal mines to Gladstone coal terminals.
Separately, Peak Downs Highway, the main artery for shipping fuel and other supplies to the Bowen Basin coal mines, has also been cut off by the rain, two mining executives said Tuesday.
--Julien Hall, julien_hall@platts.com