Drought conditions are disrupting one of Papua New Guinea's largest mines
Shipping has been brought to a standstill on the Fly River, which is suffering unusually low water levels because of the El Nino weather pattern.
The halt to shipping has affected the copper producing mine, Ok Tedi
Its managing director, Keith Faulkner, told the news agency, AAP, that the Fly River was Ok Tedi's only export route for the 750,000 tonnes of copper concentrate it sends out every year..
Mr Faulkner said the mine was rationing fuel and food supplies and would soon start drilling harder areas of ore to reduce the amount of material to transport.
