PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland Land Court this week advised that the $16.5-billion Carmichael coal mine and rail project be given state approval.

In its findings on Tuesday, the Land Court suggested the inclusion of additional environmental conditions, including the monitoring of water bodies, and a detailed botanical assessment.

The proposed project, being developed by Indian major Adani, would comprise an opencut and underground mine, running for a period of some 90 years and producing an average 60-million tonnes a year of thermal coal.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) on Tuesday said that the court decision, in conjunction with Commonwealth re-approval earlier this year, cleared another obstacle for Adani.

Adani has been facing severe opposition to the development of the Carmichael mine, from a number of greens group.

During October this year, federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt for the second time granted the Carmichael project development approval, after the Minister’s original environmental approval was overturned by the Australian Federal Court after it was appealed by a greens group on the grounds that Hunt had failed to consider conservation advice when making his decision on the project.

In November, Adani was presented with another legal challenge against its proposed Carmichael mine, after the Australian Conservation Foundation lodged papers with the Federal Court challenging the project’s recently-granted environmental approval.

QRC CEO Michael Roche said the Land Court approval, while welcome, immediately raised concerns of further litigation to come.

“[Greens activists] Coast and Country are serial abusers of the Queensland court system and we fear that they will not respect the Land Court’s recommendation as the final word,” he said.

“Adani has become the target of green activists’ vexatious litigation, having already faced two federal appeals and a string of cases against the Abbot Point expansion.

“And no sooner did the Land Court pass down its judgment, than the Environmental Defenders Office was tweeting for donations to fund federal court action.”

Roche said that the activists’ disrupt and delay tactics continued to deny Queenslanders thousands of needed jobs and millions of dollars to help pay for state services such as schools, police and hospitals.