The damage to infrastructure and the effect of absenteeism – with many workers unable to return to work today after holidays – could put a curb on productivity even if operations are not directly affected.
Flooding caused Aurizon Holdings to close its Moura rail system and partially close the Blackwater system in its central Queensland coal network.
The floods of early 2011 contributed to a $65.4 million reduction in underlying earnings before interest and tax from coal haulage from the previous year for Aurizon.
The company paid $6.4 million to repair its central Queensland coal network.
BMA’s central Queensland operations, which were severely hit in the last floods and also suffered a crippling two-year industrial campaign over enterprise agreements, last week reported a surge in productivity and a 30% increase in sales from the September 2012 quarter.
While the flood impact on BHP’s Queensland operations won’t be known until the company’s next quarterly report, Anglo American signalled it might already be putting a dent in production.
“Significant rainfall over the past few days and production at some of our operations has been impacted by flooding and temporary road and transportation access issues,” a spokesperson for Anglo American said.
It would be a blow for Anglo, which ramped up production from its flagship Moranbah North longwall mine and was making progress on developing its Grosvenor project nearby.
Production at Moranbah increased by 55% compared to Q3 2012, driven by the longwall productivity.
Coking coal as a percentage of export metallurgical coal increased by 5% to 74% compared to the third quarter of 2012.
Export thermal coal production, driven by productivity improvements, increased by 6%.
“Anglo American continues to focus on delivering growth in premium coking coals and reducing lower margin tonnes,” the company said.
“The brownfield Grosvenor metallurgical coal project in Queensland is progressing in line with expectations.
“All permits and licences are in place and engineering and procurement activities are progressing to plan.
“Construction has commenced onsite with the access road complete and bulk earthworks well underway.
“Longwall production is expected to be achieved in 2016.”
For the December quarter, metallurgical coal production increased by 13%, driven by a strong performance in longwall production and the impacts from the partial drift failure and longwall move in 2011.
Production of export metallurgical coal for the December quarter was 4.6 million tonnes and a record performance of 17.7Mt for the full year.
All export open cut operations achieved full year site records for production of saleable tonnes.
The operations may now be more affected depending on their ability to pump out surplus water.
Four BMA coal mines involved in the Fitzroy Basin pilot program have started the first controlled release of stored mine water as heavy rain continues to fall across central Queensland.
Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell said the recent deluge from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald provided sufficient stream flow for the BMA mines to release water into the Fitzroy River system.
“This is the first release from BMA mines since the government announced the pilot program in November 2012,” Powell said.
“All four mines participating in the pilot, Goonyella Riverside, Peak Downs, Norwich Park and Saraji, have now commenced releases in accordance with their environmental authorities.
“The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection has been advised of these releases and is monitoring them closely.
“Currently all data suggests that the water quality in Rockhampton is well and truly within acceptable levels.”
The information gathered during the pilot releases will provide the scientific data needed to develop a sustainable whole-of-catchment approach in the future.
Powell said mines regularly released water during the wet season as it ensured water quality was maintained.
“Mines were authorised to release water on a regular basis long before we announced this pilot,” Powell said.
“A mine’s ability to release water has always been dependent on water flows and whether they are able to meet strict environmental and water quality standards.
“That has been standard practice for many years including under the previous Labor government.
“For example, following heavy rainfall early in March last year 19 coal mines released water into the Fitzroy catchment.
“This pilot is being closely monitored and regulated, with the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection keeping a close watch on discharges from other coal mines and monitoring the cumulative impact on the river.”
The Department of Natural Resources and Mines will also undertake additional water quality monitoring and collect water samples for laboratory analysis.
