Energy Resources of Australia Ltd., producer of more than a 10th of the world's mined uranium, plans to resume full production at its Ranger operation after a cyclone hampered mining and caused a staff evacuation.

"We're flying people back in today,'' company spokeswoman Libby Beath said by telephone from Darwin, in the Northern Territory. "It looks like we're heading back to normal and we hope to have people back in their trucks this evening.''

Tropical Cyclone Helen, with its winds of up to 60 miles an hour, swept east across the Territory's coastline yesterday, felling trees and power lines in Darwin and preventing the use of trucks at Ranger. The cyclone, which formed in a monsoonal trough out at sea, has been downgraded to a low pressure system by the Bureau of Meteorology. A strong wind warning remains in place for parts of the Territory's north-eastern coast.

Energy Resources missed contracted deliveries last year after a flood at Ranger stopped production in February. It continued to mill ore from stockpiles during Helen and production will not be impacted, Beath said.

"We're still producing the same amount as last week,'' she said yesterday.

Emergency services in Darwin are restoring electricity to the city and clearing up fallen trees and power lines after the storm hit yesterday morning local time. The city is still being buffeted by gusty winds as the cyclone moves into the Gulf of Carpentaria, the body of water bordered by both the Territory and the state of Queensland, the bureau said.