World’s No.2 iron ore miner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) was forced to close part of its Cape Lambert export terminal in Western Australia after a fire damaged part of the installations.
The blaze broke out early on Thursday during a maintenance shutdown by contractor Monadelphous and was extinguished with no injuries, Rio said.
Cape Lambert is one of two ports Rio Tinto uses to ship iron ore from Australia’s Pilbara mining region.
The Cape Lambert iron-ore port is located about 1,250 km (780 miles) north of the Western Australian capital of Perth. It’s is one of two terminals Rio uses to ship iron ore from Australia’s Pilbara mining region and has an annual capacity of 205 million tonnes, according to the miner’s website.
“Emergency services responded to the incident and the fire was safely brought under control,” a Rio Tinto spokesman said. “Importantly, no one was injured and we remain committed to ensuring the safety of our team during the recovery phase.”
The company also noted that operations at part of the facility have restarted, though impacted areas remain closed.
It is unclear what impact the fire will have on production and shipping from Cape Lambert, a joint venture between Rio Tinto (53%), Mitsui (33%), and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (14%).
The post Fire batters Rio Tinto’s Cape Lambert iron ore export terminal appeared first on MINING.com.