Port Hedland re-opens, cyclone Laurence weakens

Shipping was suspended early yesterday when the category five storm was on track to reach landfall between the ports of Broome and Port Hedland.

The cyclone has now been downgraded to a category three and is expected to weaken to a category one tomorrow morning as it continues further inland.

The main iron ore mining operations in the area are owned by BHP Billiton and Fortescue.

Both were monitoring the situation but appeared to have been largely unaffected.

Rio Tinto, which has operations several hundred kilometres further west, was unaffected.