MARKET TALK: BHP's Key Iron Ore Rail Line Closed After Incident

18th Jun 2010 01:33

0033 GMT [Dow Jones] BHP Billiton (BHP.AU) says its main iron ore rail line in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has been closed after an "incident" early Friday morning. "The affected part of our main line rail from Newman to Port Hedland has been closed and all rail construction work has been suspended until further notice," BHP says. No further detail on the nature of the incident or how long the rail line is likely to be shut. The closure stops the flow of iron ore from the world's third biggest producer to the Port Hedland; with BHP producing 62.6 million metric tons of ore in the first half, a protracted outage could tighten markets. The incident also highlights the advantages for BHP in the planned JV with Rio Tinto (RIO.AU) in the Pilbara; Rio has two ports and if the rail network was integrated, some of BHP's material could still get to market, although any outage at Hedland would still have a big impact. BHP up 1 cent at A$38.83. ([email protected]) Contact us in Singapore. 65 64154 140; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 17, 2010 20:33 ET (00:33 GMT)