<p>Flooding in North Queensland has had a large impact on BHP Billiton’s coal operations, the resources giant said yesterday (Wednesday, February 6).</p> <p>Around two weeks of production has been lost as a result of operational closures last month after heavy rain. </p> <p>The company posted a fall in profit for the first six months of 2007ቤ at $6.68bn, down 2.4% on the same period last year.</p> <p>But the drop in earnings was attributed to exchange rate movements and higher input costs, which increased by 1.9%.</p> <p>Last week the Queensland Resources Council upgraded its assessment of damage and losses to mines in Central Queensland affected by flooding from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.</p> <br />
