India's Adani approach first coal shipment from shunned Australian mine

Industry Oulook Team | Monday, 27 December 2021

India's Adani Group is going to ship the first coal cargo from Australia's most controversial mine, after battling a seven-year campaign by climate activists and defying a global push away from fossil fuels.

The Carmichael mine is located in Queensland state, which is likely to be the last new thermal coal mine to be built in Australia and the world's biggest coal exporter.

"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 spokeperson for Adani's Australian subsidiary Bravus Mining & Resources said in a statement.

The mine plan in 2018 to 10 million tonnes a 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's Australian CEO Lucas Dow told Reuters in emailed comments.

The company has not disclosed the cost of the smaller mine and a 200-km rail line it built not disclosed the cost but the project has been estimated at A$2 billion ($1.5 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.