-- Aurizon forced to close rail lines after heavy rains
-- Yancoal, Anglo American report flooding
-- Disruption to transport links to hold up coal shipments
(Adds remarks from rail operator Aurizon from third paragraph,
Xstrata from the fifth)
By Rhiannon Hoyle
SYDNEY--Storms battered Australia's east coast, disrupting coal
exports as rail links were shut due to heavy flooding.
Several coalmining companies also reported flooding at open cut
mines across the region Tuesday, as resource-rich Queensland state
faced the heaviest rain in two years. Severe weather warnings
remained in place.
Aurizon, Australia's largest rail freight company, said it was
forced to close its Blackwater and Moura rail lines, which
transport coal from over a dozen mines in the state's south to the
major coal exporting port of Gladstone and nearby refineries. Crews
were assessing the damage and working to get the lines running
again, the company added.
Two rail lines in the north of the state, Newlands and
Goonyella, were reopened after ex-tropical cyclone Oswald passed
through the area, heading south, Aurizon said.
One of the mining companies affected by the rail closures,
Xstrata Coal, a unit of Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN), said it was looking
at "contingency plans." That could include finding alternative
routes to get its coal to port, or stockpiling material. Coal
production wasn't "materially affected" by the storm, a company
spokesman said.
Emergency officials said the current storm was less severe than
floods that devastated the region in 2011, causing major damage to
coal operations and denting production for months.
The Port of Gladstone was working with customers on plans to
restart activities after it was forced to suspend operations at the
weekend, a spokeswoman said.
Yancoal Australia Ltd. (YAL.AU) said Tuesday production at its
Yarrabee and Middlemount open cut mines, in the state's coal-rich
Bowen Basin, was disrupted by the heavy rainfall. Output at
Middlemount mine, which it operates with Peabody Energy Corp.
(BTU), would likely be affected for at least three weeks after a
levee bank was breached by flood waters, the company said. Normal
operations were likely to resume at the company's Yarrabee mine
this week, it added.
Also Tuesday, Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN), the second largest
exporter of coking coal in Australia, said output from some of its
operations was disrupted by flooding, along with the road and rail
closures.
"Weather conditions in Queensland are now improving which is
allowing us to resume work in some areas," a spokeswoman said in an
emailed statement.
Gold producer Evolution Mining Ltd. (EVN.AU) said that its Mt
Rawdon operations, southwest of Bundaberg, which closed Saturday
due to flooding, would be limited to processing low-grade stock
piles of mined raw material when the plant reopens later this week,
while the company removes water from the site's open pit.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
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