Call for miners to unite in fight

IF THE Adani coal mine falls over, environmental activists will target the Hunter Valley next, the Australian head of the coal giant has warned.

Adani chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj has warned that activists are using “divide and rule” tactics to destroy the megamine project and he called on Australian coal companies to band together to defeat them.

“The industry has to be very clear this is not about Adani or one project. This is about the industry as a whole,’’ he said.

“If they shut the Galilee Basin, they will go to the Hunter Valley, and if you remember, a week after the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loan was vetoed, they started putting out articles saying there were bigger and worse mines than Adani in NSW.’’

The divide and conquer strategy has already worked in forcing banks to walk away from Adani because of reputational damage brought by activists.

Coal companies in Australia were also reluctant to join Adani in fighting the activists because they see the megamine as competition.

Mr Janakaraj said activists’ claims about the mine destroying the environment were overplayed because the project had to follow 300 state and federal environmental conditions.

He said other coal companies would be the next target if they didn’t join the fight.

“They will go there. It is a matter of divide and ruling. They are trying to divide and rule Australia,” he said.

“It is important for the people of Queensland and Australia and we should not fall into the trap of these people who are trying to show us everything but the truth.’’

Mr Janakaraj said India was starving for coal and last year Adani’s business in the subcontinent imported 80 million tonnes, while the Carmichael mine in central Queensland will produce 25 million tonnes.

Independent analysts Wood Mackenzie have also said India would continue to need significant amounts of coal, despite the growth in renewables.

Adani’s own solar plant in Mundra, in the Indian state of Gujarat, has recently tripled output to three gigawatts.

Adani is also developing a solar farm at Rugby Run, near Moranbah.

Mr Janakaraj said if he had his time over, he would have done a few things differently.

“In hindsight, we are all very wise, but as a diligent business operator, maybe we would have had a different perspective on timelines and planning at a slower pace, but that’s all nice to say, but here we are,” he said.