Newcrest Mining Ltd.’s Telfer gold mine is expected to get a deluge of heavy rain later this week after the biggest cyclone to hit the Western Australian coast in almost a decade makes landfall.
(Bloomberg) — Newcrest Mining Ltd.’s Telfer gold mine is expected to get a deluge of heavy rain later this week after the biggest cyclone to hit the Western Australian coast in almost a decade makes landfall.
Tropical cyclone Ilsa is currently 355 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of the town of Broome and is forecast to cross the coast late Thursday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The storm will maintain cyclone intensity as it tracks past Telfer and further inland, it said.
The cyclone is expected to cross the coast north of Port Hedland and miss the region’s major iron ore mines as it moves inland past the Telfer operation, which is 400 kilometers from the port. Newcrest has reduced onsite staffing levels as the company prepares for the storm, a spokesperson said.
Port Hedland began clearing vessels from its inner harbor on Wednesday. Companies including BHP Group and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. use it as their main exporting hub for iron ore.
Ilsa is currently a category 2 cyclone and is forecast to strengthen to a category 4 before it crosses the coast with extreme gusts up to 270 kilometers an hour, according to the bureau. The storm is forecast to be a category 3 as it moves inland near Telfer.
–With assistance from Kevin Varley.
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