Major Hunter Valley Coal Mines not affected by Australian floods

Tuesday, 21 Jun 2011

Dow Jones reported that major miners in Australia Hunter Valley haven't been adversely affected by floods that have seen parts of the world largest coal export basin declared natural disaster zones in recent days.

The region largest miners Xstrata PLC, Coal & Allied Industries Ltd and BHP Billiton Ltd said operations were running normally as did Gloucester Coal Ltd which operates mines in the Gloucester Basin to the north of the coal port of Newcastle.

Storms and flooding along the central and northern coast of New South Wales state have seen the state police and emergency services minister Mr Michael Gallacher declare 14 areas natural disaster zones including the council areas of Cessnock, Muswellbrook, Upper Hunter and Gloucester in the state coal belt.

At Newcastle port, the world largest coal export harbor and the point of departure for most Hunter Valley coal, benchmark front month thermal coal futures traded on the InterContinental Exchange slipped Thursday to USD 119.60 per tonne down from USD 121.75 Tuesday.

Flooding in the Bowen Basin region of neighboring Queensland state from November to January caused a 50% spike in the price of coking coal used in steelmaking as rainfall inundated mine sites, access roads and coal railways. (sourced from Dow Jones)