Adani on track to export first Carmichael coal in 2021

Adani’s excavator and mine trucks revved up this week to begin work on removing layers of overburden above the coal seams, which according to newly-appointed Adani Mining CEO David Boshoff is a significant milestone to have ticked off on the construction schedule.

- Coal Insights Bureau

“We are on track to export first coal in 2021,” Boshoff said.

“In time Liebherr R 996B excavator and CAT 796 dump trucks will reach the coal seam then we will be excavating coal as we need to remove around four cubic meters of rock for every tonne of coal we mine,” he said recently.

Growing workforce

There are now more than 700 people working on the mine and rail project construction and numbers are growing as more contractors arrive to build the coal handling plant and to work on the railway.

“The expansion of our mine accommodation to 400 beds is complete to cater for the additional workforce and we will soon be able to accommodate another 1,200 people in our temporary rail accommodation villages. We remain on track to deliver 1,500 direct and 6,750 indirect jobs,” he said.

The Carmichael Mine will produce 10 million tons of high-quality thermal coal a year, which will be used to generate electricity in India and South-East Asia.

Adani sees project economics with low cost profile of 4:1 strip ratio, quality resource and forecast demand from target markets of India and South-East Asia. Adani would be using conventional truck and excavator mining techniques across the project.