Indian mining group Adani has announced that it planned to start construction of the A$16bn (US$21.7bn) Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland (Australia) in the third quarter of 2017, after years of delays over environmental approval. The controversial Carmichael project is estimated to hold 10 Gt of coal reserves and should produce 60 Mt/year of thermal coal.
The Carmichael project was proposed in 2010. Adani initially planned to complete the approval process in two to three years but final approval was only granted in 2016. The mine project was approved by the Queensland government in May 2014 and by the Australian government in July 2014. The federal environment minister re-issued the environmental approval in October 2015 and the Environment Department of the Queensland government (Australia) gave its final environmental approval in February 2016 but a series of legal challenges by environmental groups against the project have delayed the project. In late August 2016, the Federal Court dismissed the Australian Conservation Foundation’s claim against the project and found that the approval decision by the government was lawful.