Adani mine gets final approval for Carmichael Mine
Queensland's Department of Environment and Science has approved Carmichael mine
Adani mine gets final environmental approval for Carmichael mine.
By Josh Bavas and Allyson Horn (ABC)
Queensland's Department of Environment and Science has approved mining firm Adani's groundwater management plan for the Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin.
The approval was the last regulatory hurdle to be decided by the State Government.
Construction at the mine site is expected to begin within days.
Over the past 18 months Adani had produced about a dozen versions of its groundwater management plan. Previous attempts failed to meet key environmental requirements, including a plan to avoid destroying one of the world's last unspoiled desert oases, the Doongmabulla Springs Complex.
After Labor's poor results at the federal election, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last month said she was "fed up" with both the federal and state delays for the Indian miner and gave her Environment Department the new deadlines.
Today's approval comes almost a fortnight after the Department granted approval for the mine's conservation plan for the endangered black-throated finch.
While today's decision allows Adani to break ground, designs for its railway line to get coal to the Abbot Point terminal, north of Bowen, are yet to be finalised.
Adani has approvals to produce up to 60 million tonnes of thermal coal every year but at this stage is only planning to produce about 27.5 million tonnes.
It will need about 1,500 employees.
Late yesterday the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) won a Federal Court appeal, which found the Commonwealth had not properly assessed about 2,000 public submissions on Adani's plans to use river water.
But the ACF conceded that the decision was unlikely to further delay the controversial project given today's "green light".
It is the first mine to gain approval for the Galilee Basin
