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“The safety and wellbeing of employees is our priority at Hail Creek mine,” a Rio spokesperson told ILN.
“This is why we have shut the mine this morning ahead of Cyclone Yasi, in keeping with the latest government advice.
“This is shaping as a much larger and faster moving system which could impact a wider area, in what is an already saturated landscape following Cyclone Anthony.
“All employees will leave site with the exception of a skeleton crew of volunteers that will monitor essential services only.
“The Bureau of Meteorology predicted Cyclone Anthony, which was a much smaller system, would impact an area north of Proserpine and employees who live in this area were given approval to return home if needed.”
A map released by the bureau this morning indicates that gales could strike as far south as Moranbah, even though the eye of the cyclone is forecast to head dangerously close to Cairns.
The severe tropical cyclone is expected to cross the Queensland coast early Thursday morning.
The Hail Creek mine produced 5.89 million tonnes of hard coking coal in 2010.
Severe wet weather put all four of Rio’s Queensland mines under force majeure on December 29, with limited operations taking place since.
