Rio Says Heavy Rain Disrupts Pilbara Port Operations

By Jason Scott

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company, said heavy rain is disrupting iron ore ship loading at Dampier and Cape Lambert ports in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

“There’s been some interruptions to dumping and ship loading at our ports, and berthing in particular has been affected,” Rio’s Perth-based spokesman Gervase Greene said today by phone. Road conditions are “not good,” he said. Operations at Rio’s 11 mines are continuing as normal, he said.

Australia’s northwest, the site of most of the nation’s oil, gas and iron ore production, may experience flooding today due to severe storms, according to the state’s Fire & Emergency Services. The nation provides about a third of the world’s traded iron ore.

A low-pressure weather system north of the town of Exmouth may cause flash flooding and damage homes and property, the services department said in an e-mailed statement, citing the Bureau of Meteorology. People in the towns of Karratha, Onslow and Exmouth are at risk, it said.

The area has received about 200 millimeters of water since 9 a.m. Feb. 14, Rio Tinto’s Greene said.

Operations at Port Hedland, which is used by BHP Billiton Ltd. and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., haven’t been affected with little rain recorded, the port authority’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Bush, said in a phone interview.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at Jscott14@bloomberg.net