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 temporarily after a levee breach. Similarly, Aurizon said parts of its network were closed.
Ship loading at Port of Gladstone and Hay Point—the world’s biggest harbor for metallurgical coal shipping—was also temporarily suspended but is now restored.
