Rio Tinto cautioned on Friday that its firstquarter deliveries might be affected by interruptions to its rail operations following record rains along Western Australia's Pilbara coastline due to tropical cyclone Sean.

A railcar dumper at the East Sexual Intercourse Island (EII) port center, which dealt with 45 million metric tons of overall iron ore deliveries in 2024, had actually experienced severe flooding, the manufacturer of the steel-making commodity said.

The scenario is presently under assessment with preliminary findings indicating that the EII dumper may be out of operation for three to 4 weeks for repair work, Rio said.

Healing works within the more comprehensive Iron Ore system are progressing, with most of rail and port operations now returned to operations, the business stated, including it was maintaining its general shipment forecast for 2025.

Heavy rains led Rio Tinto to report a 1% fall in its iron ore shipments in the December quarter, highlighting the repeating impact of severe weather conditions on production, especially in the rain-stricken Pilbara region.

On The Other Hand, Port Hedland, which is essential to iron ore deliveries from miners such as BHP Group and Fortescue , reopened on Monday after the hazard postured by the cyclone decreased, with operations resuming following clearance from the Pilbara Ports Authority.

(source: Reuters)