Source: Reuters

Last year it was coal, this year it is the iron-ore industry that may take a hit from violent weather. A tropical cyclone bearing down on west Australia forced the closure of some of the world's largest iron-ore ports and several offshore oil fields this week, the first major series of shutdowns in what is forecast to be a tempestuous summer. Similarly, last year at this time, floods in Queensland resulted in serious disruptions to the coking-coal industry in Australia; giving Mongolia the edge it needed to lead the world in coal exports to China. Iron-ore is another major mineral (also for steel production) imported to China.

Port Hedland, the region's largest iron-ore port, exporting around 240 million tons of the steel-making commodity a year, is closed to traffic until the Cyclone Heidi passes. Australia's second and third biggest iron-ore miners, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group both export through Port Hedland, which lies directly in the predicted path of the cyclone. Australia's biggest iron-ore miner, and head of operations at the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, Rio Tinto, said it had also halted all loading at its regional ports south of Port Hedland. Rio Tinto ships around 225 million tons a year from there, which are also in the projected path of the cyclone.

Heidi is rated a category-one cyclone, the lowest on a scale of one to five, but could intensify to a category two before it hits the coast. Heavy rains have already begun further inland in the country's richest iron-ore region. Tropical cyclones and temporary shutdowns are a normal part of Australian summers, but an especially stormy season can have major impacts, such as when cyclones and flooding swamped the coal-mining industry in the country's northeast a year ago.