(Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) Ltd. expects to take about a week to recover from the derailment of one of its iron ore trains in Australia that damaged about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) of track, causing rail operations to be suspended.
The company was forced Monday to derail the train that traveled about 90 kilometers without a driver across the Pilbara, a major iron ore producing area in Western Australia. All train operations remain suspended while investigations continue into the cause of the incident, according to the company.
BHP’s iron ore mine operations are unaffected by the incident, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday. “The only thing that’s been suspended is our trains.”
Stockpiles at Port Hedland will be used over the coming days to maintain port operations, BHP said in a statement. The company, which runs trains that are almost 3 kilometers long from its giant iron ore mines, said it’s working with local authorities to investigate the incident. There were no injuries as a result of the incident.
“At this stage we anticipate the recovery process to take about one week,” the company said.
Iron ore producers in Western Australia run some of the world’s longest trains. BHP transports material from its large mines -- which make up almost 40 percent of its profits -- to Port Hedland, where it ships to customers in China and Japan. The company has more than 1,000 kilometers of rail infrastructure in the ore-rich Pilbara region.
BHP shares rose as much as 1.9 percent in Sydney trading.