Adani urges coal miners to fight activists or Hunter Valley will be next

Image Source: steelguru.com

Courier reported that if the Adani coal mine falls over, environmental activists will target the Hunter Valley next, the Australian head of the coal giant has warned. Mr Jeyakumar Janakaraj chief executive of Adani 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.

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

Mr Janakaraj added that “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.

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

Mr Janakaraj continued that “They will go there. It is a matter of divide and ruling. They are trying to divide and rule Australia, and they are trying to divide and rule the different states and jurisdictions.”

Mr Janakaraj said that “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 of having a moral high ground and to show us only the bad.’’

Mr Janakaraj said that 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 about 25 million tonnes.

Independent analysts Wood Mackenzie have also said India will 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 3 gigawatts.

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

Source : Courier Mail