Australian coal mines braced for floods as La Nina wet weather pattern looms

Five years ago floods linked to a La Nina weather pattern nearly brought Australia’s coal industry to a standstill. With another of the sea-cooling events now forming and the risk of heavy rains returning, mining companies say they are ready.

They have bought pumps, fortified levees and brushed up on procedures to deal with the deluge of water that a La Nina can bring, the companies say.

The stakes could be high. Over several months in late 2010 and early 2011, during the last La Nina event, around 85 per cent of Australia’s coal mines across a region bigger than Texas either had to restrict output or close as record rains fell.

Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of metallurgical coal and second-biggest exporter of thermal coal.

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While coal prices briefly raced to near peak levels as buyers vied for cargoes, clean-up bills far outweighed the short-lived financial gains. That could prove even more disastrous than in 2011, with MineLife Services in Sydney saying coal prices have now retreated to the point where at least a third of the industry is operating at a loss.