MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Rio Tinto was working on Monday to recover about 30 wagons of a self-driving iron ore train that derailed in Western Australia, an accident that analysts said had the potential to disrupt its exports, although no one was injured.
Saturday’s incident was the second such event after peer BHP Group derailed a runaway iron ore train in the same region in late 2018.
“The incident involved a loaded train, with approximately 30 wagons derailed,” a spokesperson said in an email, adding that the derailment took place at 6.30 p.m. about 20 km (12 miles) from Dampier in the Pilbara.
“The regulator has approved recovery of the site and work to recover the derailed wagons has commenced.”
The incident is likely to have torn up track on one of the miner’s two lines to export ports, said David Lennox of wealth manager Fat Prophets in Sydney, which holds Rio shares.
Rio exports from Dampier port and through Cape Lambert in the northern part of Western Australia state. It was not immediately clear if train schedules to both places or Rio’s shipments to customers would be affected.
It typically takes less than a week to clear up wrecked track, analysts said, adding that Rio was likely to be able to cover shipments from port stockpiles until then.
Shares in Rio, which said it was investigating the incident, were down 1.2%, alongside smaller declines in other iron ore miners.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Clarence Fernandez)
