Severe tropical cyclone Naril made landfall on the coast of Western Australia on Friday, forcing port closures, operational precautions and supply disruptions across key mining regions.
The system peaked at Category 4 near Exmouth before weakening to Category 3 on Friday afternoon as it moved inland south of Coral Bay. The Bureau of Meteorology warned of sustained winds of around 120km/h, gusts of up to 165km/h, heavy rainfall and flash flood risks, forecasting a further drop to Category 2 by Saturday as it tracks up the coast of Western Australia.
The same storm had forced the closure of a bauxite mine in Queensland a week earlier.
Pilbara Ports began clearing docks at Ashburton, Cape Preston West, Dampier and Varanus Island on Tuesday night, with them closing by 9am on Thursday, while Port Hedland remained open.
BHP (ASX: BHP) and Fortescue (ASX: FMG) reported no impacts, and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) said port operations had been halted but mining and rail transport were continuing. Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) has activated its hurricane plan and halted offshore operations at Ashburton, citing worker safety.
A spokesperson for Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), which operates iron ore and lithium mines in the Pilbara, told MINING.COM the company was monitoring the storm closely and had drawn up its cyclone management plan.
“As a precaution, MinRes has suspended marine operations at the Port of Ashburton. The safety of our employees remains our top priority,” the spokesperson said.
While there were no reports of damage to iron ore operations, local media reported that several LNG terminals were experiencing outages due to the weather.
Damaged shipments
Further south, the Midwest Ports Authority closed the Port of Geraldton, affecting shipments. Iron ore producer Fenix Resources (ASX:FEX) has warned that the cyclone could exacerbate diesel shortages linked to the conflict in the Middle East, forcing the curtailment of non-essential mining and transport activities.
The company warned that the hurricane may exacerbate restrictions on diesel fuel supplies due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“The company expects supply disruptions as a result of the impact of Tropical Cyclone Naril and due to fuel supply shortages from Fenix’ contracted diesel suppliers,” Fenix said.
“In response, Fenix is taking steps to reduce non-essential activity in the company’s mining and transportation operations.”
The company noted March quarter shipments would be impacted by the closure but maintained 2026 guidance of 4.2-4.8 million tonnes at C1 costs of A$70-80 per wet metric tonne, Geraldton on board, conditional on resumption of shipping in early April and fuel availability.
Gold producers Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) and Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) have also taken precautions, with Ramelius citing heavy rain forecast near Mount Magnet and the potential for short-term fuel sourcing from Perth rather than Geraldton.
“Mt Magnet is not in the direct line of the system as it moves down the west coast of Australia, but we are expecting heavy rain and preparations have been made in line with our standard approach to weather events of this type,” Ramelius managing director Mark Ziptner said in a statement.
Narelle made landfall four times in Australia in the past week. Its trajectory underscores how a single system can disrupt operations across regions, tighten logistics and expose vulnerabilities in fuel supplies.
