India’s Adani Group is preparing to ship the first coal cargo from Australia’s most controversial mine, after battling a seven-year campaign by climate advocates and defying a global push away from fossil fuels.
The Carmichael coal mine in the outback of Queensland is likely to be the last new thermal coal mine to be built in Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, but is to be a vital source of supply for importers, such as power plants in India.
“The first shipment of high-quality coal from the Carmichael mine is being assembled at the North Queensland Export Terminal in Bowen, ready for export as planned,” a spokesperson for Adani’s Australian subsidiary, Bravus Mining & Resources, said in a statement.
The statement did not say where the shipment was headed, except that “we have already secured the market for the 10 million tonnes per annum of coal that will be produced at the Carmichael mine.”
When Adani bought the project in 2010, it envisioned building a 400km rail line and a mine with the capacity to unearth 60 million tonnes per year for about A$16 billion (US$11.55 billion), one of several projects planned in the then untapped Galilee Basin.
It shrank the mine plan in 2018 to 10 million tonnes per year following a sustained “Stop Adani” campaign by green groups, which scared off lenders, insurers and major engineering firms.
“That sharpening of the plan has kept operating costs to a minimum and ensured the project remains within the first quartile of the global cost curve,” Adani Australian CEO Lucas Dow said in e-mailed comments.
The company has not disclosed the cost of the smaller mine, as well as a 200km rail line that it built and tied into an existing railway, but the project has been estimated at A$2 billion.
“It is quite a celebration because this is going to be the last true greenfield thermal coal mine in Australia,” said Lloyd Hain, managing director of consulting firm AME Group.
Climate advocates, concerned about carbon emissions and potential damage to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef — from global warming and dredging at Abbot Point Port — filed several court cases challenging government approvals for the mine.
Their campaign turned into a lightning rod at Australia’s last election in 2019, in a jobs-versus-the environment fight that saw the coal-supporting conservative coalition government re-elected when it was expected to lose.
While advocates succeeded in delaying the project for seven years and even leading Adani to change its local name to Bravus, they are not claiming victory.
“It’s a shame that the mine is still going to go ahead, but just because the mine is open doesn’t mean all the coal in the ground is going to come out. We will continue to campaign to keep as much in the ground as possible,” said Andy Paine, who chained himself to Adani’s rail line several weeks ago.
The coal is to be exported from a terminal at Abbot Point, which Adani bought for US$2 billion in 2011 and renamed the North Queensland Export Terminal.
Analysts said that it made sense for Adani to dig the mine to help it earn back the massive investment on the coal terminal, which has run nearly half empty since Adani acquired it.
“It’s about maximizing your cash flow returns on the railway line and maximizing your profits on Abbot Point,” Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis director Tim Buckley said.
Although the Carmichael mine would become unprofitable as coal prices fall, Adani might have an incentive to expand it to 20 million tonnes per year to keep the port filled, when other mines supplying the terminal stop producing, he said.
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