Queensland Premier vetoes NAIF funding for Carmichael project

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has followed through on her election promise to exercise the state’s veto over funding from the North Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for a rail link associated with the Carmichael coal mine.

Palaszczuk, whose government was sworn in on Tuesday, has tweeted a photo of her letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in which she formally requests that financial assistance should not be provided to India’s Adani for the North Galilee Basin rail project.

“The government is exercising its veto right under section 13(4) of the investment facility mandate in response to the Adani loan application,” the re-elected Premier said.

In a statement congratulating Palaszczuk on her government’s election, Adani responded that the company would “fully consider and adjust” to the constraints the veto of NAIF funding brought.

“Adani Australia is 100% committed to Queensland, we have a strong regional Queensland presence. This will not change,” the company said.

Adani had applied for a A$900-million loan from the NAIF for the rail link, arguing that it will be common user infrastructure that will be open to other users.

The planned A$16.5-billion Carmichael mine, 160 km north-west of Clermont, has been delayed for years as opposition from environmental groups led banks to steer clear of funding what would be the biggest coal mine in the country.

Ahead of the elections last month, Adani said that it had held meetings with a wide range of financiers for the Carmichael mine and associated infrastructure.

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.

The combined mine, rail and port operations are expected to create more than 10 000 direct and indirect jobs.