McArthur River Mine suspends mining as ex-tropical cyclone Megan leaves trail of chaos

Personnel at a Top End mine have been stranded in mine buildings, and two workers were rescued after their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters, as rainfall from ex-tropical cyclone Megan ravaged the area. Read what’s happened.

The McArthur River mine pit.

Personnel at McArthur River zinc and lead mine have been stranded in mine buildings, and two workers were rescued after their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters, as rainfall from ex-tropical cyclone Megan ravaged Gulf of Carpentaria communities.

Reports have emerged of mine employees sleeping in mine buildings, and owner Glencore temporarily suspended operations at McArthur River Mine (MRM) late yesterday while the storm passed.

Glencore spokesman Francis De Rosa said the internal road between the McArthur River mine village and the mine site was cut-off, and that Telstra communication was lost during a Territory-wide outage.

Road damage caused by tropical cyclone Megan. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology / Facebook

“This meant about 200 workers including the MRM management team, spent the night in operational buildings,” Mr De Rosa said.

“All of these workers were safe and had access to plentiful food and shower facilities throughout this time, as well as access to uninterrupted power.

“We have transported about 60 of these workers back to the MRM village by helicopter and are working on the construction of a road between village and operational areas now that the unprecedented rainfall is beginning to ease.

“Yesterday two of our workers were successfully rescued after their vehicle was washed off an internal road due to fast rising floodwaters. Both are safe and well and have been assessed by medical staff.”

Unofficial estimates put rainfall at the mine site at about 500mm since last Monday.

NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said the weather event was testing resources.

“A one-in-a-hundred year flood is really serious, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure the residents of Borroloola are safe,” Mr Murphy said.

The tropical low has caused serious disruption to the NT’s mining sector this week, with a bulk carrier slamming into Alyangula Wharf on Groote Eylandt, forcing South32 to suspend operations at its Gemco manganese mine.

On Friday morning, Mr De Rosa said there had been a number of developments at McArthur River overnight and a further update would be provided at 10am.

Originally published as McArthur River Mine suspends mining as ex-tropical cyclone Megan leaves trail of chaos