Access to the mine was possible on Friday and staff arrived to conduct a safety audit and a preliminary assessment.
“Advising a timetable for recommencement of Baralaba main pit production is currently premature, given the extent of current flooding and uncertainty regarding future weather patterns,” Cockatoo said.
“At a minimum, however, a production delay of some weeks and potentially longer should be anticipated.”
The company has sufficient cash to manage the severe flooding which has struck the main pit and said typically less than 20% of the mine’s quarterly operating costs came from fixed costs.
Cockatoo will provide more updates to the market in due course, including detail on the timetable for dewatering the pit and restarting production.
The small open cut coal mine on the southeastern arm of the Bowen Basin is jointly owned by Cockatoo (62.5%) and Japan’s JFE Steel (37.5%).
Cockatoo shares are up half a cent to 48.5c this morning.