September 08, 2008

BHP restarts all but one iron ore mine in Australia

It is reported that BHP Billiton began restarting its Australian iron ore mines a day after shutting down operations over the death of a second mine worker in 10 days.

Ms Samantha Evans spokeswoman of BHPB said “We are gradually restarting our operations in the Pilbara, except for Yandi, where the mine is still shut.”

Ms Evans said it is not yet clear when the mines would return to full production or when the Yandi lode, in the Pilbara region, would re-open.

BHP shut in a third of Australia's production when it halted production on Friday and the Yandi mine where the fatalities occurred remains shut as investigations into the deaths continue. The Yandi mine accounted for about 40 million tonnes of the 91 million tonnes of iron ore or roughly 10% of the globally traded market that BHP mined in Australia last year.