BHP Restarting All But One Australia Iron Ore Mine

The world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc, began restarting its Australian iron ore mines a day after shutting down operations over the death of a second mine worker in ten days, a company spokeswoman said on Saturday.

BHP shut in a third of Australia's production when it halted production on Friday, and the Yandi mine where the fatalities occurred remains shut as investigations into the deaths continue, the spokeswoman said.

"We're gradually restarting our operations in the Pilbara, except for Yandi, where the mine is still shut," BHP spokeswoman Samantha Evans told Reuters.

Evans said it was not yet clear when the mines would return to full production, or when the Yandi lode, 500km (310 miles) east of the western coast in Australia's Pilbara district, might be reactivated.

In the case of past fatalities that have led to the closure of individual mines, including the death of another worker at the mine on 26 August, operations have resumed within a day or two following police and special emergency mine investigations.

The Yandi mine accounted for about 40 million tons of the 91 million tons of iron ore, or roughly 10% of the globally traded market, that BHP mined in Australia last year.

The traded market for iron ore is sensitive to any disruptions to supply amid a global shortage brought on by growing orders from Asian steel makers.

Competition for ore has enabled BHP and other Australian miners to raise ore prices by as much as 86% this year.

Analysts had warned that a prolonged loss of BHP's output could tighten spot markets, especially after an unrelated force majeure by rival Rio Tinto.

BHP employs around 8,000 people across the Pilbara, roughly 18% of the outback region's total population. It is the world's third-largest supplier of iron ore, after Brazil's Vale and Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc.

The latest death is the fourth fatality at a BHP operation in the past month.

A worker was killed at the Klipspruit coal mine in South Africa when a drill rig toppled over. A day before that an employee was killed at the company's Port Hedland iron ore loading terminal in Australia.

The two most recent deaths in Australia involved workers under contract to BHP from HWE Mining, owned by Leighton Holdings Ltd.

Thursday's death resulted from a collision between a light vehicle and a truck.

by James Regan; writing by Clarence Fernandez; editing by Bill Tarrant.