Wednesday, October 13,
The unseasonal rains started in August and have persisted ever since, giving some regions their wettest spell on record and flooding parts of the Queensland and New South Wales states’ coal belts, where the two global miners operate collieries.
Rio has already said its Australian coal production has been hit by the rains and coal traders have said some miners are facing force majeure situations.
“BHP hasn’t declared force majeure, but it is still to be seen how it will affect the numbers and what it will do for its next quarter as it tries to run with wet pits,” said Bank of America Merrill Lynch mining analyst Peter O’Connor.
Rio Tinto is due to report its September quarter production figures on Oct. 14, while BHP is due to post its production data on Oct. 20.
“Rio and BHP will want to stockpile Iron ore as the cyclone season approaches, so export figures may not tell the whole production story,” said an analyst. Cyclones typically batter the Australian Pilbara Iron ore belt’s coastline between December and March and can cause widespread production and shipping delays.
Source: International Business Times
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