BHP’s iron ore production declined in the October-December 2018 quarter following a train derailment during the period, figures release Tuesday show.
It said total iron ore production for the three months to the end of December 2018 was down 6% both year-on-year and from the preceding quarter.
The train derailment on 5 November 2018 resulted in the suspension of rail operations for five days and a production impact of about 4mt, BHP said.
The Aussie mining giant was forced to derail one of its trains after it ran away when the driver was out conducting an inspection.
The train travelled for 90 km by itself before being derailed near Turner, about 120km south of Port Hedland, leaving about 1.5km of track damaged.
“During the rail outage, mine stockpile levels were built and are expected to be partially drawn down in the March 2019 quarter,” it added.
However, BHP said guidance for iron ore output for the 2019 financial year remains unchanged at between 241 and 250mt.
On Tuesday, Rio Tinto reported a 7% increase in iron ore exports for the fourth quarter versus the preceding three month period.
Shipments from its Australian mines were 87.4mt versus the 81.9mt seen in the third quarter, when a fatality at one of its mines affected operations.
Rio Tinto said iron ore shipments for the full year were up 2% year-on-year to 338.2mt.
