Of all the flood images from Queensland’s Bowen Basin, one of the most enduring will be that of an Ensham Resources dragline boom reaching skyward from its drowned pit at the open cut coal mine. InvestorTV spoke to Ensham’s general manager for operations, Peter Westerhuis, who endured the inundation.

"We got some advice on Friday afternoon that we were facing a flood threat,” Peter said.

“We had made our own assessment about that already because we have people who follow the flood levels of Theresa Creek because we've had Theresa Creek flood before, but we were prepared for that.

“We've had Theresa Creek go over our haul road before and we were prepared for that to go over our haul road on Friday morning," he said.

When it was decided that there would be some risk to pits adjacent to rising floodwaters, the two draglines in the pits were walked out.

"We got both of them out in time, up to the natural water level. Unfortunately for one of them, it was the collapse of the levy bank that pushed them back in."

Ensham's Bucyrus 8750 dragline, one of the world's largest and valued at over $100 million, was walked out to safety just prior to the collapse of another levy.

"We were inundated by an unprecedented, totally unexpected, unpredicted flood event," Peter said.

As of the afternoon of Wednesday January 23, preparations were being made at the Ensham mine for another rise in flood water levels.

"Our understanding is that it may still be another 48 hours away before it reaches its capacity, its peak here at the mine."

Despite the situation, production has continued in unaffected sections of the Ensham mine.

"While all this was happening we were actually loading trains and still having two draglines operating.

"While we have spent most of the last four days preparing for an increase in water level, we have been able to keep some parts of the mine operating," Mr Westerhuis said.