Carmichael coal mine

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Carmichael coal mine
General information about the mine
Mining technology Opencast mining , underground mining
Information about the mining company
Operating company Adani Group
Funded raw materials
Degradation of Hard coal
Geographical location
Coordinates 22 ° 7 '59.5 "  S , 146 ° 27' 0.1"  E Coordinates: 22 ° 7 '59.5 "  S , 146 ° 27' 0.1"  E
Carmichael Coal Mine, Queensland
Carmichael coal mine
Location Carmichael coal mine
Location Galilee Basin
State Queensland
Country Australia

The Carmichael coal mine is a mine under construction by the Indian Adani Group in the Galilee Basin in Australia . With an approved mining volume of 60 million tons of coal per year over sixty years, it would be one of the largest mines in the world. After the Adani Group had problems raising capital, the planned amount of mining was reduced to 27.5 million tons per year. The mine was originally supposed to go into operation in 2014 and start with a mining volume of two million tons of coal in the first year. A large part of the coal is to be shipped to India and used to generate energy for India, China, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Location and coal deposits

The mine is located in the Galilee Basin in the Australian state of Queensland . According to estimates by the company, 7.8 to 8.3 billion tons of hard coal with an average energy content of 23 MJ / kg are available on the 26,000 hectare mining area .

Project components

Mine

The mine is (as of 2014) divided into five underground mining operating points with a capacity of twenty million tons per year and six opencast mines with a capacity of forty million tons per year. The area of ​​the mine with spoil heaps and infrastructure is to be 44,760 hectares. Over a period of sixty years, 2,326,545,993 tons of coal are to be mined (as of 2014). A village for the employees, an airport and infrastructure for the provision of up to 12.5 billion liters of water per year are also to be built (as of 2014).

Railway line

The original railway line was to run over 388 kilometers in standard gauge to the port of Abbot Point . In September 2018, in view of the financing problems of the entire project, Adani announced that it would connect to the existing Kapspur rail network after 189 kilometers . By reducing the gauge, the transport capacity of the route has also been reduced; According to Adani, however, it should be sufficient for the reduced mining volume of 27.5 million tons. German companies are also involved in the construction, for example Siemens is supplying the signaling technology.

Port expansion

For the mined coal, the port of Abbot Point, whose operator is also part of the Adani Group, has to be expanded considerably; 1.1 million cubic meters of sludge have to be excavated for this. After the expansion, the port is 20 kilometers from the Great Barrier Reef .

history

In October 2010, Adani presented the first plans for the coal mine, which originally envisaged a service life of 150 years and a rail connection to one of the two or both ports of Abbot Point and Hay Point . Depending on the port used, the project should require an investment of 26.5 to 33.3 billion dollars over the entire duration, go into operation in 2014 with a mining volume of 2 million tons of coal per year and increase to 60 million tons per year by 2022 . In 2013 the term was reduced to 90 years and in 2014 to 60 years, the necessary investments fell to 16.5 billion dollars and the water requirement increased from 9.3 to 12.5 gigaliters per year. Coal mining was supposed to start in 2016, but the deadline could not be kept due to a lack of permits. Adani received approval from the Queensland General Coordinator on May 8, 2014 to build the mine subject to 190 conditions.

Jobs and profitability

Jobs

The number of jobs to be created has continued to decline over the years. In the first plans from 2010, 5,000 jobs should be created for the operation of the mine and 120 jobs for the operation of the railway line. After several reductions in the operating time and the annual mining volume, only between 800 and 1,500 jobs are expected for the operation of the mine and the railway line.

Effects on the environment and climate

With a mining volume of 2,326,545,993 tons of coal over 60 years, the combustion, transport and processing of coal produce a maximum of 4,729,988,241 tons of CO 2 equivalents . This amount corresponds to 0.53–0.56% of the global CO 2 budget based on the 2015 value in order not to exceed the 2 ° C limit of the Paris Climate Agreement . As of January 2019 with a remaining budget of 334 gigatons and the 1.5 ° C limit, this corresponds to 1.4%.

Protests against the mine

Since planning began, the project has been criticized by residents, politicians, indigenous groups and environmental associations in many countries. They fear negative consequences for the climate , the groundwater , the Great Barrier Reef and many animal species.

Siemens participation

Siemens AG confirmed in December 2019 that an order for the delivery of signaling technology for the railway line had been placed. This met with criticism worldwide, whereupon the CEO Joe Kaeser announced a public statement. On Friday, January 10, 2020, Fridays for Future protests against the Siemens order took place across Germany; a petition with over 57,000 signatures against the order was handed over. Kaeser agreed to talk to climate activist Luisa Neubauer ; Siemens announced an early decision to continue the contract. After Kaeser announced that Siemens would hold on to its participation, further protests broke out on January 13, 2020.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project: Initial Advice Statement. In: statedevelopment.qld.gov.au. Adani Group, October 22, 2010, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  2. ^ Adani Mining: Marketing Brochure. In: adaniaustralia.com. Adani Group, June 2019, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b Environmental impact statement: Economies. In: statedevelopment.qld.gov.au. February 11, 2013, accessed January 10, 2020 .
  4. ^ A b Coordinator-General's evaluation report on the environmental impact statement. In: statedevelopment.qld.gov.au. Adani Group, June 7, 2014, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  5. ^ Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project: Volume 2 Section 2. In: adaniaustralia.com.au. Adani Group, September 23, 2015, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b Chris Taylor, Malte Meinshausen: JOINT REPORT to the Land Court of Queensland on “Climate Change - Emissions”. In: envlaw.com.au. Adani Mining Pty Ltd (Adani), December 22, 2014, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Adani scales back Carmichael rail link plans. In: www.railwaygazette.com. September 14, 2018, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  8. ^ Carmichael Project: New Narrow Gauge Rail Design. In: adaniaustralia.com. Adani Group, September 2018, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  9. ^ A b Adani Carmichael Mine. In: www.press.siemens.com. Siemens AG, December 12, 2019, accessed on January 9, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Australia expands coal port on the Great Barrier Reef. In: The world . December 22, 2015, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  11. ^ Abbot Point Operations. In: adaniaustralia.com. Adani Group, September 2019, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  12. ^ Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail project: Coordinator-General's evaluation report on the environmental impact statement. In: statedevelopment.qld.gov.au. May 2014, accessed on January 10, 2020 .
  13. ^ Coordinator-General Decides on Galilee Mine. In: statements.qld.gov.au. May 8, 2014, accessed January 10, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Lisa Cox: Adani jobs explained: why there are new questions over Carmichael mine . In: The Guardian . June 4, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed January 10, 2020]).
  15. ↑ Remaining CO₂ budget - Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC). Retrieved January 14, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Stop Adani: Why #StopAdani. In: stopadani.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Lena Bodewein: Australia's climate conflict on the Great Barrier Reef - world's largest coal mine threatens corals. In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur . August 22, 2019, accessed January 9, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Michael Bauchmüller: Siemens wants to decide on a coal project on Monday. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . January 10, 2020, accessed January 10, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Lennart Pfahler: Siemens in Australia: The most controversial coal mine in the world. In: welt.de . January 13, 2020, accessed January 13, 2020 .