Adani’s mega-mine would destroy thousands of coal jobs

By Leith van Onselen

MB has vigorously opposed the Adani Carmichael mega coal mine from the outset on the grounds that:

1. Adani’s own hand-picked economic expert, Jerome Fahrer from ACIL Allen consulting, told the Queensland Land Court that only 1,464 full-time equivalent jobs would be created by the project;
2. The project will create all manner of environmental externalities and degradation; and
3. The mine will flood the world with more cheap coal, thus depressing its price and putting non-subsidised mines in NSW and QLD out of business, resulting in job losses.

Over the weekend, The Australia Institute (TAI) released damning research estimating that Adani’s highly automated Carmichael mega coal mine would destroy thousands of coal mining jobs in existing mines across NSW and QLD:

The Institute’s report estimates that development of the Galilee Basin would reduce coal mining jobs by 9,000 in the Hunter Valley (NSW), 2,000 in the Bowen Basin (QLD) and 1,400 in the Surat Basin (QLD), compared to a scenario with no Galilee mines out to 2035.

“If Australia wants a just transition for our coal workers then the worst thing we can do is to open up new mines that proponents plan to automate ‘from pit to port’,” said Rod Campbell, Director of Research at The Australia Institute.

“Put simply, new mines, in new coal basins, destroy jobs in existing coal regions.

“Building new coal mines in the Galilee Basin would reduce the overall coal workforce by between 2,680 and 5,800 mine workers in the coming decades.

“With flat world demand for coal, every new coal mine opened in new coal regions like the Galilee simply reduces production in existing coal regions like the Hunter Valley, Bowen Basin and Surat Basin. This will lead to the closure of some mines and layoffs in others.

“Existing coal regions like the Hunter Valley and Bowen Basin can continue to employ significant numbers of coal miners for some years, even as the world moves away from coal. But if governments are determined to subsidise automated new mines into new coal regions they will hasten the demise of existing coal jobs.

Hopefully this report is the final nail in Adani’s coffin.

Full report here.