Within the next few months Central Queensland will see more than 4000 jobs and $7 billion in investment created by the Carmichael megamine project.
The Indian company Adani who has faced many hurdles over the upcoming project, is now ready to get the construction process running as soon as federal approval is granted for the dredging program and its board of directors give the green light.
Adani Australian boss, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, said the $7 billion required for the project will not be an issue. This has come as the first announcement from Adani of a start date on the project considering it has been pushing for approval for five years.
“We will start early works in line with those dredging approvals. We are working with the Government and we think we’ll get them on time because that is critical. As soon as we get dredging approval a financial investment decision is there,” he said.
The construction site is set to be Australia’s biggest coal mine project and will create about 4000 jobs, but 4150 jobs are predicted in construction and another 3800 when the mine starts operating in 2017.
Downer has already been given the $2 billion construction contract and is awaiting Adani to commit to them.
The jobs would effectively compensate for almost half the 10,000 jobs lost in the coal industry since the boom ended, but almost all the jobs at Carmichael mine will be fly-in, fly-out because the closest town, Clermont, is 160km away.
Mr Janakaraj has told that none of these jobs would be going to foreign workers, and that central and northern Queensland would benefit economically. All workers would be sourced from Queensland where there is a high rate of unemployment.
Despite regulatory hurdles the company has faced, it has gained support from both side of politics.
Adani hopes that by July the Federal Government will sign off on its plans to dump the dredging spoil at Abbot Point on land.
The State Government will then be required to grant a mining lease, which is currently being held up by a Land Court case brought by environmentalists. That case is expected to run another four weeks.
Adanis has currently spent $1.3 billion on the project and the development will require it to find about $4 billion in debt at this crucial time of the struggling market.
The State Bank is predicted to help out by providing $1 billion of that.
The project has faced many accusations from environmental groups and indigenous people about the environmental impact on climate change, but this has not deterred the ongoing process of the megamine.
Over its 60-year mine life the investment from Adani will be more than $16 billion.
The Carmichael Jobs registry is open for people to register their interests.
http://mininglink.com.au/story/adani-creates-4000-jobs-for-carmichael-megamine-project