Heavy Rains Slam Australia’s Queensland Coal Mines


Queensland Premier Campbell Newman was in Gladstone to discuss to recent floods in the Gladstone Region.
(Photo courtesy David Sparkes/The ObserverDavid Sparkes)
Heavy rains are again disrupting coal min-ing in Queensland, West Australia, though effects are believed to be far less severe than the 2011 devastation that brought much of its production to a standstill.

BHP Billiton, the biggest player, has lost production from coking mines in its Bowen Basin after roads and other infrastructure were hit. Meanwhile, the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture—the world’s biggest seaborne coking shipper—has received major rains in places previously deemed unaffected; a full survey is under way.

Anglo American, Australia’s second-largest coking coal producer and the Chinese majority-owned Yancoal have also closed mines. Yancoal’s Middlemount open cut mine, jointly owned with Peabody Energy, has also been shuttered temporari-ly after a levee breach. Similarly, Aurizon said parts of its network were closed.

Ship loading at the Port of Gladstone and Hay Point—the world’s biggest harbor for metallurgical coal—was also temporari-ly suspended but is now restored.

As featured in Womp 2013 Vol 02 - www.womp-int.com