Queensland Miners Resort to Force Majeure

By Joel ScanlonJan 11 2011

The floods in Queensland are affecting its mining sector adversely. Projects worth $2 billion are facing delays and additional costs as the floods cause work disruptions in many mines across the state. Many mines have had to cease production on a temporary basis or shut down completely due to the heavy rains.

As per analysts at Leighton Holdings, an estimated $1.4 billion in annual revenue had been affected by the flood related declarations of force majeure. This is a contractual clause that gets invoked when a shipment is unable to be made due to an extraordinary event.

This revenue was generated primarily by the coal mines in the state of Queensland. Leighton Holdings has identified 11 coal mines to which it provides services that have been forced to resort to the force majeure. A spokesperson said that not all the mines were completely closed and some were only partially affected while others were still producing coal.

Contract miners are the worst affected by the floods in the state as they generate their revenue based on the volume of production from the mines. The cessation in production or drop in production for a mine will have a negative impact on revenue for them. The global coal market is looking to the US coal to help meet the shortfall created by the Australian export reduction.