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More than 1,000 workers are nervously waiting to find out how long the NT's largest mine will remain closed due to damage caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan, as Groote Eylandt locals battle ongoing challenges with accessing fuel, food, water and power.
NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said two of the main communities on the island, Angurugu and Alyangula, had received the worst impacts, including cut-off roads and power outages.
Winds from the category three system caused the MV Anikitos manganese ore bulk carrier to smash into the Groote wharf, where it was moored on Friday night and over the weekend.
The damaged vessel was still stuck at the wharf on Wednesday.
The vessel — which is carrying 41,140 metric tonnes of manganese ore from the South32 GEMCO mine, 1,070 tonnes of low sulphur fuel and 109 tonnes of diesel — is being monitored by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
The GEMCO mine site has also been impacted by the severe weather.
Damage to the wharf and mine have led South32 to temporarily suspend operations at the mine.
"Initial assessments have identified flooding in the mining pits, as well as significant damage to a critical haul road bridge that connects the northern pits of the Western Leases mining area and the processing plant," the company said in a statement to the ASX.
"Significant structural damage to the wharf and port infrastructure has now also been confirmed.
"Further assessment of the full impact of the damage is ongoing and will inform recovery plans, with a view to returning to safe operations as soon as possible."
South32 also sought to allay workers' concerns.
"We are aware of rumours regarding GEMCO's future and stress that any suggestion that GEMCO will not reopen is false," it told the ABC.
While the extent of the damage is being assessed, unions say the more than 1,000 workers at the mine and wharf are concerned about how long the suspension could last.
"The damage is significant and there's very little information yet about the way forward, because it has taken a few days for people to be able to get in to make assessments," NT Electrical Trades Union organiser Dave Hayes said.
NT Maritime Union branch secretary Andy Burford said workers were worried about "severe damage" to the wharf and a hole in the ship's ballast tank.
NT Emergency Services Minister Brent Potter said the NT government and AMSA were monitoring the manganese ship.
"The concern is if [it] was to break its mooring and run aground and the items on cargo [were] released into the environment," he said.
"We're continuing to monitor it, but AMSA is involved now and there is a contingency.
"Should that occur, AMSA can lead that."
Most of South32's mostly fly-in-fly-out workforce has been flown off the island.
Sealink has also confirmed one of its ferries that services the islands was severely damaged by the system.
A Sealink spokesman said the vessel had been securely moored at the time and that the extent of the damage would be assessed when access to the island resumed.
Concerns for essential supplies
In the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan, residents on Groote are facing ongoing problems accessing fuel, food, water and power.
The system has caused major damage and flooding to the main roads that link the communities on the island.
In the Indigenous community of Angurugu the storm cut off the community's power supply from Friday night until Tuesday.
The water supply was also interrupted, but has since started to come back on at low pressure in some houses.
Angurugu Community Store manager Gordon Walsh said he was waiting to find out whether a barge carrying essential diesel and food supplies would be able to land safely on the island.
"The barge landing needs to be checked for debris," he said.
"We are waiting for frozen goods, we're out of some perishables like bread."
Compounding food shortages, Mr Walsh said barge deliveries planned before the cyclone had also been delayed.
He said the power cuts in the community meant the store had been keeping food cold using a generator.
Community bands together
The 2,800 residents of Groote and the neighbouring Bickerton Islands have been working together to make sure community members are able to get essential food supplies.
Percy Bishop, a broadcaster at community radio station Groote Broadcasting, said information about when essential supplies would resume had been slow to be released to the island's Indigenous communities, many of whom had only been able to communicate by phone or text.
The radio station was also put off air by power cuts as the cyclone hit.
"Initially communication was very difficult, particularly on Saturday and Sunday, so we need some sort of innovative way to keep those who are being affected the most informed clearly and daily as soon as we are able to," Mr Bishop said.
Mr Bishop said for three days in a row, community organisations had come together to form a convoy of four-wheel drives to navigate the damaged roads and bring cooked food to hungry people and put on barbecues in Angurugu.
"We ended up with about 30 vehicles the first day, and we've had smaller convoys since then that have gone into every Indigenous community," he said.
"The local cafe cooked from midnight to 9am in the morning, and we also took out barbecues.
"We took out 1,000 bottles of water on Monday and it went in ten minutes.
"But it's very hard to sustain this with just a volunteer effort every day."