A railway that carries zinc from major producers such as Glencore across Australia’s Outback is expected to reopen this month, Queensland’s transport minister said on Tuesday.
“Every resource has been made available to accelerate recovery works,” Mark Bailey said in a statement.
“Queensland Rail expects to reopen the full length of the 1,000-km Mount Isa line from Monday, April 29,” he said.
The 1,000-km (620-mile) rail line is used by miners including Glencore, MMG Ltd and South 32 to carry zinc and lead concentrate from the Mt Isa region to a port at Townsville.
The rail line was damaged in floods that covered vast tracts of Queensland’s Outback in muddy water in February. Previous repair timetables had put the line’s reopening between the end of April and the middle of May.
(By Tom Westbrook; Editing by Tom Hogue)
