Aussie firm Downer wins $2bn contract from India’s Adani Group
December 19, 2014, 8:36 am

Australia’s federal and Queensland governments are eager to see the mine built following the loss of more than 4000 coal jobs over the past two years [Image: Adani Mining]

Under the five-year contract, with two additional one-year options, Downer will be responsible for statutory management and mine operations, drilling and blasting and load and haul of waste and coal.

“We’re very much looking forward to working with Adani at the Carmichael Coal Mine, which is expected to become the largest thermal coal mine in Australia,” Downer’s CEO Grant Fenn said.

The capital for the major fleet for the mining services contract will be provided by Adani. The contract would be one of the largest of its type signed in Australia in recent years, claimed Fenn.

“In selecting Downer as the mining services contractor, we are confident that not only we are well placed to meet our longstanding first coal guidance of 2017 but that we are one step closer to our goal of building a long-term future with Queensland,” Adani Australia Country Head and CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj said.

Australia’s federal and Queensland governments are eager to see the mine built following the loss of more than 4000 coal jobs over the past two years.

First mining is scheduled for the second quarter of 2016 and first coal in 2017.

The Carmichael mine has sparked protests from green groups worried about carbon pollution and export of the coal from a port near the Great Barrier Reef.

Glencore Xstrata Plc and BHP Billiton are among global miners canceling projects and cutting workers to cope with escalating production costs and slumping prices in Queensland in stark contrast to Adani Group’s decision to press ahead with a $21 billion bet on Australia’s Galilee Basin.

Australia coal imports to China are projected to rise 22 per cent by 2018, while exports to India are predicted to increase 83 per cent to 185 million tons.

The Australian economy slowed in the second quarter with gross domestic product (GDP) rising a weak 0.5 per cent. The economy is struggling with the winding down of a decade-long boom in mining investment.

Australia has placed great premium on closer ties with China and India over the last few years.

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said, “Whatever else this century brings, it will bring Asia’s rise. The transformation of the Asian region into the economic powerhouse of the world is not only unstoppable, it is gathering pace.”

In 2012 the Australian government published a White Paper on ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ explaining Australia’s pivot towards growth engines like India and China.

TBP and Agencies