Mineral Resources confirms WA iron ore derailment

Australian mining firm Mineral Resources today said a derailment of an empty train occurred on the rail line between its Koolyanobbing iron ore mine in the Yilgarn region in Western Australia (WA) and the Port of Esperance.

The train, comprised of 106 railcars, was returning from Esperance after delivering 7,488t of iron ore fines to the firm's Esperance port facility, Mineral Resources said. The firm is working with rail network operator Arc Infrastructure to assess the damage to the track and how long it will take for the track to reopen. Arc expects repairs to the track to be completed this week.

Heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the region on 10 November possibly washed out some ballast from under a small section of the track, Mineral Resources said.

"Mineral Resources does not expect this derailment to have a material impact on its Koolyanobbing iron ore production and shipment schedule," the firm said. There was damage to some of the derailed wagons but not to Mineral Resources' locomotives.

This is the second derailment to occur involving an iron ore train in WA. BHP was forced to derail a train on 5 November after it left without its driver, who had got out to inspect a railcar.

The derailed train comprised of Mineral Resources-owned locomotives and rolling stock, was south of Norseman, on the Norseman-Esperance line, when the derailment occurred early yesterday.

Mineral Resources said last week that the start-up of the Koolyanobbing mine will occur late in the October-December quarter, compared with an initial target start of September and a revised target of November.

Koolyanobbing is to offset the closure of its Carina mine. Mineral Resources had forecast production of 4mn wet metric tonnes for the 2018-19 fiscal year to 30 June from the ramp-up of the Koolyanobbing mine to a run rate of 6mn-6.5mn t/yr.