El Nino Helps Curb Export Disruption of Australian Iron Ore and Coal During Cyclone Season

Mining Weekly reported that the El Nino weather pattern will help curb the usual disruption threat Australian iron ore and coal miners face as during the upcoming cyclone season.
As quoted in the market news:

That would mark a rare beneficial effect from El Nino, which often brings drought to some regions while prompting flooding in others. In Western Australia state, where past cyclones have brought some of the world’s biggest mines and shipping terminals to a standstill, there’s a 75% chance of fewer cyclones over the upcoming Nov. 1-April 30 period than in non-El Nino years, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Monday.
Iron ore prices typically rise when mines and ports shut until cyclones pass, temporarily cutting off supply – sometimes for days.
“Fewer cyclones translates into more mining and shipping days,” a commodities trader said.
Australia’s biggest iron ore miner, Rio Tinto , was forced to cut its 2015 target for shipments by 10-million tonnes to 340-million tonnes after two cyclones disrupted operations last year. On the east coast, where most Australian coal is mined and shipped and past seasons have seen collieries and rail lines flooded by cyclonic rains, meteorologists hold a similar outlook, with a 73% chance of a below-average number storms forecast.

Click here to read the full Mining Weekly report.