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Cyclone intensifies off West Australia as mines shut


    SYDNEY (Reuters) - A powerful tropical cyclone gathering strength off the coast of West Australia was likely to cross the country's remote Pilbara mining region early on Monday, forcing many resource companies to shut down operations.

    The sparsely populated Pilbara region, some 1,900 km (1,180 miles) north of Perth, is home to scores of iron ore, manganese, nickel and bauxite deposits as well as nearby offshore oil and gas wells.

    Australian media said Rio Tinto and Woodside were shutting down operations while Chevron said on Sunday it had already curtailed some of its operations in north west Australia.

    "Chevron Australia's cyclone preparations to secure personnel safety and equipment integrity for its operations on Barrow and Thevenard Islands in northwest Australia are well advanced with non-essential personnel demobilized yesterday and operations being shut in today," a spokesman told Reuters.

    Last week, Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd already shut off their oil fields off Western Australia. Another Australian oil producer AED Oil Ltd. also stopped production at its oil field in the Timor Sea, due to the storms in the area.

    Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said on Sunday, Tropical Cyclone Nicholas was estimated to be 320 km (200 miles) north of Karratha and would be upgraded to a Category 4 cyclone from category 3 currently.

    "There is the risk of an impact from a Severe Tropical Cyclone on the west Pilbara coast on Monday or early Tuesday, with gales extending as far east as Whim Creek," the Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement.

    "Gales may extend south to Cape Cuvier and adjacent inland areas later on Monday or on Tuesday."

    Last March, a powerful cyclone in the region forced oil companies, including Santos Ltd and Woodside Petroleum Ltd, to shut about 180,000 barrels a day of production, half of Australia's output, for nearly a week.

    Weather bureau spokesman Tony Yates said communities between Pardoo and Exmouth could experience strong winds.

    "There could be gale force winds developing at any time within the next 24 hours," he said. "You actually don't need the cyclone centre to be particularly near the centre for a system of this intensity to be able to produce gales, and in fact some of the offshore islands have been experiencing gales already." Meanwhile, flood waters in Mackay in north Queensland were receding. Mackay was declared a disaster zone in the wake of Saturday's torrential rain when 600 mm (23.6 inches) of rain fell in just six hours.

    But flood warnings remain in place with more heavy rain expected this afternoon along the north Queensland coast.

    (Reporting by Anirban Nag; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)