Anglo American said Monday it suffered metallurgical coal production losses at its mines in Queensland, Australia, in the last week of March, due to Cyclone Debbie.
Mining activities have now restarted at all operations, the company said in a quarterly update on operations.
"The impact on the rail network has been more material, and is still being assessed. It is expected that this will impact Q2 sales volumes," the statement said.
Cyclone Debbie made landfall late last month in Queensland, resulting in floods and widespread damage to coal haulage rail lines. Many coal mines and ports were shut as a precaution as the cyclone approached and have since reopened.
Anglo American benefited from 28% higher year-on-year export met coal production to 5.2 million mt in Q1 from its operations in Queensland. This followed a longwall move at the Moranbah mine and a ramp up at the new Grosvenor mine.
In Q1, coking coal output surged 40% year on year to 4.75 million mt, while PCI fell by 31% to 491,000 mt. Anglo American sold a combined 4.95 million mt of met coal in Q1, up 17% over the same period.
In a mine by mine breakdown, Anglo said it produced 1.42 million mt at Moranbah North in Q1, up 72% from Q1 2016 and down 27% from Q4 2016.
Grosvenor output was 709,800 mt in Q1, up 250% from Q1 2016 and 32% up on Q4. Capcoal was 1.785 million mt in Q1, up 45% from Q4 2016 and little changed on the year earlier period, while Dawson produced 1.09 million mt, down 14% from Q1 2016, and up 9% on Q4.
