India’s Adani nears first coal shipment from shunned Australian mine

India’s Adani Group is preparing 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 in outback Queensland state is likely to be the last new thermal coal mine to be built in Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, but will be a vital source of supply for importers such as power plants in India.

“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 statement did not say where the shipment was headed, except that “we have already secured the market for the 10 million tonnes per annum of coal that will be produced at the Carmichael Mine”.