The Queensland government have made it known they intend to help fund the Adani Carmichael mine in the Queensland Galilee Basin. This is aimed at enticing the banks to invest in the projects put forward by Adani as they prepare to build a huge mine in 2015.

$480 million to host the G20 Summit

We often wonder at the logic that sits behind Queensland’s fascination with hosting the G20 at a cost to taxpayers of some $480 million, when people in the mining industry have lost jobs, investment slowed, yet new projects are awaiting approval and ready to kick off. Could that $480 mil have been better spent creating more jobs for Queenslanders? We think so!

No one can give the public a figure on the return on investment for the Qld government coughing up the cash to host� world leaders and their entourages over a balmy Brisbane weekend in November. Was this money well spent? We also wonder just how much of taxpayers money will be invested to create more Qld mining jobs. Will it be $480 million?

Qld government’s investment plan

The Adani Carmichael mine investment deal is expected to include rail, airport, water, port and electricity infrastructure.

This includes plans to take a short-term equity stake in Adani`s 310km railway line which will be built by leading contractor POSCO. The rail link will connect the proposed $16 billion Carmichael mine to the Abbot Point coal terminal, near Bowen in north Queensland.

Adani Australia chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj said the offer for Qld to sweeten the deal would help ease concerns investors were having about bankrolling the coal mine.

“It gives confidence to investors who are considering their long-term plans in the Basin, that the state is committed to the best possible infrastructure being in place to support the further development of the Galilee, and the jobs and exports that will provide,”� Janakaraj said.

One of the conditions of finance is that Adani would allow other mining companies to to use the rail line.

Adani – not the only mining company in Qld to start digging up coal

GVK Hancock and Clive Palmer`s Waratah Coal are also planning to build massive new mines in the coal rich region.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said that investments in infrastructure would be short-term with the government to sell its interests within approximately five to ten years.

The Bank of India has already agreed to a loan of $1 billion to Adani which was rumoured to have been kick-started after the Qld government announcement.

27,000�Adani Carmichael mine jobs for Queensland

“The bankers want this sort of endorsement from the state government, and we want these projects to go ahead because of the estimated 27,000 jobs it will create and the money that will flow into the state,“ Seeney said.

“If everything goes to plan, construction of the Adani Carmichael mine could start in the first quarter of 2015 and take advantage of the low-cost construction environment at the moment.“

If the proposed coal mines in the Galilee go ahead, 100 million tonnes of coal will be shipped each year.