Cyclone Zelia Strengthens Off Australia’s Major Iron Ore Hub

Tropical Cyclone Zelia has strengthened off Western Australia and is expected to cross the coast on Friday near the nation’s major iron ore export hub, bringing heavy rain and damaging wind gusts.

Zelia is forecast to intensify further as it moves toward the Pilbara coast, with the slow movement of the system likely to produce very high rainfall along its track, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The cyclone has strengthened to a Category 2 and is likely to develop into a Category 3 before landfall.

Port Hedland, Australia’s biggest iron ore export harbor that’s utilized by BHP Group and Fortescue Ltd., will close at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday. The cyclone is currently forecast to make landfall east of the port.

BHP said its rail operations will start ramping down in line with the shutter of the port, while its mines continued to operate. Fortescue said the company was following the directive from the port, without elaborating further.

A series of cyclones have dumped heavy rain across the Pilbara region this year and disrupted iron ore operations, even damaging a port facility operated by mining heavyweight Rio Tinto Group. Further downpours on already saturated ground could lead to flash flooding and put vital rail links to ports at risk.

Rio, which ships iron ore from terminals to the southwest of Port Hedland, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zelia is set to be the first cyclone to cross the Australian coast this season, which runs from November through to the end of April. It will be the latest landfall during a season since Tropical Cyclone Blanche in March 2017.

Photograph: An autonomous haul truck dumps a load of rock in the mine pit at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, on Thursday, 19th Oct , 2023. Photo credit: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg