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MELBOURNE—Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest
mining company, will resume loading iron ore onto ships
in Western Australia Tuesday after a cyclone forced the
closure of ports and brought hurricane-force winds.
“Ships
are beginning to return and port operations are soon to
resume,” spokesman Gervase Greene said Tuesday by phone
from Perth. Loading at Rio’s Dampier port would resume
first, followed by operations at its second port of Cape
Lambert, he said.
Tropical
Cyclone Nicholas has been downgraded from a Category 3
storm to Category 2 and could still bring winds of up to
150 kilometers an hour (93 miles an hour) to the Exmouth
region, south of
Rio’s port operations, according to the Bureau of Meterology’s
web site. The storm was 85 kilometers northwest of
Exmouth at
1:55
p.m. Sydney time, the bureau said.
Rio sent
its iron-ore carriers out to sea on February 15 and 16
to avoid damage caused by rough seas, Greene said.
Mining continued during the port closure, and ore was
stockpiled at the mine sites, he said.
Rio rose
by as much as A$4.10, or 3 percent, to A$138.10 and was
A$137.62 at 2:46 p.m. Sydney time on the Australian
Stock Exchange. (Bloomberg) |
