UPDATE: Whitehaven Coal Loses One Week's Output To Wet Weather

Heavy rains that caused flooding in eastern Australia have already cost Whitehaven Coal Ltd. (WHC.AU) about one week's production, the company said Friday.

Whitehaven's Rocglen, Sunnyside, Tarrawonga and Werris Creek open-cut mines in the Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales have been closed as water has collected in the mines, although none of them are flooded, it said in a statement.

Access roads to the Rocglen and Tarrawonga mines and to the Gunnedah coal plant also have been closed, but Whitehaven said no equipment has been damaged.

Mining at its Narrabri operation has continued, although some workers have been unable to travel to the site, it said.

"The full impact on Whitehaven's operations will not be known until the wet weather has passed."

Earlier Friday, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported record floodwaters in northern New South Wales had isolated towns and forced residents from their homes. The State Emergency Service reported 17,000 people were isolated across the state, it said.

A spokeswoman for Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) said the rain hasn't at this point had any affect on the Anglo-Swiss company's operations in New South Wales or Queensland. A spokesman for Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) declined to comment.

Mining across coking coal-rich Queensland was hard hit in late 2010 and early 2011 by monsoon rains that flooded operations across the state, prompting companies to issue force majeure--a clause that releases a company from supply obligations due to circumstances beyond its control.

The industry estimated it lost about 40 million metric tons of output in the state due to flooding.

Michael Roche, chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, an industry body, said companies in the state were watching the weather closely but were so far dealing well with what has so far been a traditional wet season. However, mines in Queensland are carrying an estimated 300 gigaliters of water from last season's rains, so companies are hoping more serious weather conditions such as cyclones don't occur.

-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]