The Indian mining group Adani intends to begin works on the Carmichael coal project (Galilee basin, Queensland, Australia) by October 2017 and schedules the first shipment in March 2020. The project is expected to cost A$16.5bn (US$13.3bn) and will be funded by internal accruals, the National Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) and foreign banks. Adani hopes to obtain an A$1bn concessional loan from the NAIF in order to build a rail line from the mine to Abbot Point port (Queensland, Australia).
Adani initially planned to complete the approval process in two to three years but final approval was only granted in 2016 and a series of legal challenges by environmental groups against the project have delayed it. 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.
The project is expected to reach a production of 25 Mt/year in 2020-2021 and gradually ramp up to 60 Mt/year of thermal coal from six open-cut pits and five underground mines. It is estimated to hold 10 Gt of coal reserves. The final investment decision (FID) was made in June 2017.