Australian mining operations have been disrupted on many occasions by the occurrence of extreme weather events including floods, tropical cyclones, droughts and heatwaves. As well as causing operational disturbance and installation impacts, extreme events have also affected mines’ environments including causing detrimental effects in downstream water resources. The likelihood of climate change exacerbating extreme weather risks for mine sites has been recognised by the industry including the International Council on Mining and Metals (Adapting to a Changing Climate 2013).  However, sparse data and a range of uncertainties including future extreme event frequencies and severities make provision for the future challenging.

This paper offers a new approach to the evaluation of options and management of uncertainty via extending our local government tool, CATLog (Climate Adaptation decision-making Tool for Local Governments), to use for adaptive decisions at mine sites.  This MS Excel^TM based software was developed by Macquarie University and UNSW as part of a NCCARF project in 2012. The tool uses both quantitative data and qualitative observations and expert views. Mine production loss data for a flood event in the Bowen Basin, Qld was used to model total loss against various future climatic scenarios. Potential adaptation options for the case examined were based on climate change adaptation and mining literature, and expert interviews. Results indicate considerable increases of loss as a result of climate change and consequently the potential for associated environmental impacts. The research demonstrates that the tool may be useful for climate change adaptation decision-making for other industry sectors.