Antinuclear

Coal giant Adani in a financial pickle

Adani’s finances go from bad to worse, Independent Australia  Lachlan Barker 3 January 2016, Federal and State Governments continue to approve it but the Adani Carmichael project will never eventuate unless an investor with “a financial death wish” can be found, writes Lachlan Barker.

IN OCTOBER 2015, the new Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia,Josh Frydenberg, made a death knellpronouncement on Adani’s Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project, indicating that the rail line to the Galilee Basin to serve the mine:

“… wouldn’t be a priority project.”

He added that Adani’s project was:

“… a commercial operation and it needs to stand on its own two feet.”

This makes it pretty clear that the federal government have, at last, recognised that this Adani coal mine has not a chance in hell of making a red cent and federal funding through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (named by opponents as the ”Dirty Energy Finance Corporation”) will not be provided.

Additionally, the banks have indicated that they will not touch this project and the one bank that Adani has constantly pointed to as a source of finance, the State Bank of India (SBI), has not actually said “yes” to the project. The SBI has simply received an application from Adani for financing.

Currently, the SBI are reviewing Adani’s application – as they do with any application – and will, presumably, announce their decision soon.

So, with no banks and now without the Australian Government, Adani were left with the solitary hope that the Queensland Government might come to the “white elephant” party.

If that was indeed their main source of hope, they must have been chagrined when, over the Christmas break, a tiny story appeared on the SBS website, headlined, ‘Adani must fund mine: Qld premier’.

The link takes us to a brief story reprinted here:

Queensland’s government has warned Indian mining giant Adani it must finance the controversial Carmichael coal mine on its own.

The federal government on Tuesday approved the expansion of Abbot Point port, which is intended to service the proposed Carmichael mine, prompting Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to sternly tell Adani not to expect any financial assistance from the state.

“There will be no taxpayers’ money going towards this project,” she said.

At the time of writing, the only entity on the planet prepared to fund the Carmichael mine project – rated as a A$16 billion project (US$11 billion) – is Adani itself.

IEEFA tells us that Adani has already borrowed A$3 billion for the initial investment in the mine and now need to raise the remaining A$13-14 billion (US$9-10 billion). That being the case, the mine looks as likely to be built as environment minister Greg Hunt’s chances of getting an invitation to the Greenpeace Christmas party — for Adani’s financial situation has got worse………https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/adanis-finances-go-from-bad-to-worse,8539

January 3, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, Queensland