Cyclone Debbie Threatens Coal Exports from Queensland Mines, Australia
Cyclone Yasi reduced Queensland coking coal by 20 million tons in 2011.
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When Cyclone Yasi devastated parts of North Queensland in 2011, the rains it brought with it took out about 20 million tonnes of coking coal production.
At current prices, around $US150 per tonne, a similar disruption could cost up to $3 billion in lost revenue.
Already, several mines have been closed as Cyclone Debbie approaches after crossing the coast, with Queensland’s big coal export terminals shut.
BHP Billiton confirmed to the ABC that its South Walker Creek mine, which is near the path of the storm, was shut yesterday until the severe weather has passed.
Glencore has also confirmed that its Collinsville and Newlands mining operations have been suspended while Debbie passes through.
The major Queensland coal ports of Abbot Point, Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point have also been shut, with rail freight company Aurizon ceasing deliveries to those ports until the cyclone has passed.
Whether the closures will be a temporary blip in the massive export chain or a bigger problem will depend on what type of damage the cyclone does.
UBS global commodities analyst Daniel Morgan told the ABC that wind damage will probably not be the main threat from the cyclone, given the experience of Yasi.
“Prolonged problems would tend to be big, wholesale flooding of pits, that’s what you don’t want to see,” he said.
Mr. Morgan said the impact of Cyclone Debbie on production is unlikely to be as great as Cyclone Yasi, because the 2011 storm came on top of a very heavy wet season.
“It was a bigger storm and I would also say that it was associated with a more prolonged rainfall event across the east coast of Queensland at that time, it was a very wet summer,” he said.
Mr. Morgan did add that Debbie has been a particularly slow moving cyclone, which meant that it might linger longer and dump a large amount of rain onto the Bowen Basin’s coal mines.
Source: (March 27, 2017) ABC News
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