Queensland Coal Mines Affected by Heavy Rains

Mines in Queensland, Australia are being affected by flooding caused by heavy rain over the east coast of Australia. With ten years of drought the mining companies had not planned for water management in case of floods. Now the coal mines in the region are flooded and looking more like dams.

Michael Roche the chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council said that the flash floods have led to huge disruptions to mining and the rail transport system. Some mines are totally inaccessible and the unseasonal wet weather has affected 40 open cut mines in the Bowen Basin in central Queensland.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union spokesman Steve Pierce said that the production delays can be put down to poor planning. He said that the older heads who knew how to set up open-cut mines with water management had retired. Now it was a problem even to run limited operations at the mines.

Mr Roche said that while companies try to plan for such eventualities with stockpiling the current levels of stocks may not be enough to meet the export obligations of the firms. This would affect the economy of the state in a major way. Many mines are revising their estimates for the yearly production due to the flooding.