Name of the Project
Carmichael coal mine project.

Location
The project is located about 160 km north-west of Clermont, in Queensland, Australia.

Client
Adani Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Adani Group.

Project Description
Adani proposes to build a 60-million-tonne-a-year opencut and underground greenfield coal mine, in the Galilee basin, as well as a 189 km greenfield rail line, connecting the mine to the existing Goonyella and Newlands rail system, south of Moranbah.

On-site development within the mining lease will include:
• six opencut pits, with a combined capacity of 40-million tonnes a year of product coal, predominantly mined using truck-and-shovel/excavator operations, supplemented by draglines and dozers for overburden removal;
• five independent underground longwall mines, with a combined capacity of 20-million tonnes a year of product coal, mining two seams of more than 45 km north to south, a conceptual longwall panel length of 5 000 m, 300-m-wide longwall panel voids and an extraction face of between 3 m and 4.5 m high;
• five mine-infrastructure areas servicing each of the opencut and underground mines comprising mine-service areas, power and fuel supply storage, water supply and management, mine water management, roads, transport facilities, waste disposal facilities, communications and medical facilities;
• a coal handling and processing plant, designed to process 74.5-million tonnes a year of raw coal;
• out-of-pit waste rock structures to store the initial volumes of the project’s 13.1-billion bank cubic metres of overburden and interburden, prior to the storage of waste-rock in mine voids, when available; and
• coal stockpiles, tailings storage cells, water management structures, a 2.5 km portion of the rail loop and coal-loading facilities adjacent to the rail.

Off-lease infrastructure includes:
• a workers accommodation village and associated facilities, located 12 km east of the mine, which include accommodation for up to 3 500 employees, with medical, kitchen/dining, laundry and recreational facilities, parking, sewerage and power infrastructure, a maintenance shed, as well as hazardous materials and chemicals storage;
• an airport to provide access for a 150-seater aircraft and the project’s fly-in, fly-out workforce, including a runway and terminal with security, amenities, a café, departure lounge, parking and passenger sit-down areas, emergency fuel storage and aerodrome rescue, as well as firefighting services facilities;
• a heavy industrial area, with facilities to service and maintain the mine, as well as offsite infrastructure and rail, including vehicle and equipment fabrication and maintenance workshops, a concrete batching plant, a hot-mix bituminous plant, bulk fuel storage, vehicle wash areas, warehouse and storage, as well as office and administration buildings.

It is proposed that the industrial area be located directly north of the proposed rail alignment, which will allow for access to a rail siding for use in supply logistics during mine development.

The area will include:
• water supply infrastructure to allow for the extraction, storage and delivery of up to 12.5 Gℓ/y of water, with an average yearly extraction of 10 Gℓ, including a floodwater harvester on the Belyando river, a 70 km raw-water supply pipeline from the Belyando river to the mine site, pumpstations, an off-site storage facility; and
• the upgrade and realignment of the Moray–Carmichael road to circumvent the mine footprint.

The rail component of the project includes a greenfield rail line, connecting the mine to the existing Goonyella and Newlands rail systems to allow for the export of coal through the ports of Hay Point and Abbot Point respectively, including:
• a 120 km dual-gauge rail from the mine site, running from west to east to Diamond Creek;
• a 69 km narrow-gauge rail, running east from Diamond Creek and connecting to the Goonyella and Newlands rail system, south of Moranbah; and
• a 4.5 km dual-gauge reception and departure line, and an 18.7 km balloon loop loading line, predominantly located outside the mining lease.

The rail component of the project also includes four construction camps, located at intervals of about 60 km along the proposed rail line, each accommodating 400 people; 29 track and 25 bridge laydown areas; and a construction depot close to the Borrow 7 quarry and the Gregory developmental road.

Further, there will be five quarries adjacent to the rail line to extract fill materials for the construction and maintenance of the railway, road construction and upgrades, as well as embankment material.

Jobs to be Created
The combined mine, rail and port operations are expected to create more than 10 000 direct and indirect jobs, and supply opportunities for local businesses.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
$16.5-billion.

Duration
Coal production from the mine will start in March 2020.

Latest Developments
The project has suffered a fresh setback after Adani Enterprises conceded it would not meet a March deadline to arrange A$3-billion in financing for the project.

The December decision by the Queensland government to veto Adani’s A$900-million funding bid for a rail line meant financing would require more time to be secured, an Adani Australia spokesperson has said. The Indian conglomerate has that it will also consider selling a minority stake in its Carmichael project without providing further details.

The financing delay is the latest hurdle for Adani, adding pressure to its ambition to deliver the first coal production from the mine by 2020. In addition to the state government opposing a federal loan for the project, major lenders have pre-emptively excluded themselves from financing the Carmichael development because they oppose polluting fossil-fuel projects.

There have also been changes to the development of the mine and connecting rail line. Adani decided in December to build Australia’s largest coal project by itself after cancelling a A$2-billion deal with contractor Downer EDI.

Earlier this month, Australia’s largest rail freight company Aurizon withdrew its application for funding from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to assist with a multiuser, open-access rail solution for the development of the coal-rich Galilee basin.
“Our NAIF application is, in part, predicated on having customer contracts secured. Given this is unlikely to occur in the near future, we believe it is prudent to withdraw the NAIF application,” he said in a statement.

The line could have carried Adani’s coal to the coast for exports.

Adani already had its own application for NAIF funding for a 400 km rail line to its proposed Carmichael coal project cancelled, after Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk vetoed the transaction.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Downer Mining (construction and operation of the mine); Austrak (concrete sleepers) and Arrium Mining and Materials (railway tracks), GA Services (refurbishment of camp accommodation).

On Budget and on Time?
The project has been delayed for years, as opposition from environmental groups have led banks to steer clear of funding what will be the biggest coal mine in the country.

Contact Details for Project Information
Adani Mining, tel + 61 7 3223 4800, fax + 61 7 3223 4850 or email Reception.Australia@adani.in.