HEAVY rain in Queensland is threatening production at the state's coalmines, prompting warnings of a spike in thermal coal prices.
The first heavy rains of the wet season fell on central Queensland coalmines over the weekend, raising concerns about the state's $24 billion a year coal industry, The Australian Financial Review reports.
New Hope Corp managing director Robert Neale said the company had been forced to temporarily halt production at its Acland mine in south-east Queensland for safety reasons. But he remained confident New Hope would be able to mitigate the impact of wet weather at the mine.
"Despite the rainfall we had last year, we still had record export sales," Mr Neale said. "I think we're in pretty good shape . . . It has been more nuisance rain, it hasn't markedly knocked us around."
New Hope sold 5 million tonnes of thermal coal from mines in south-east Queensland in 2010-11.
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