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Image: Adani.

Adani has started excavation work at the Carmichael open cut coal project in Queensland this week by removing layers of overburden above coal seams.

Newly-appointed chief executive officer David Boshoff said beginning the box-cut work was a key milestone on Carmichael’s construction schedule, putting it on track to export first coal in 2021.

“As we move into this next phase of construction with more heavy machinery operating across the site, the safety of our people and contractors is my absolute priority,” Boshoff said.

“It’s great to see our big new gear, the Liebherr R 996B excavator and CAT 796 dump trucks hard at work.

“In time they will reach the coal seam then we will be excavating coal as we need to remove around four cubic metres of rock for every tonne of coal we mine.”

There are more than 700 people working on the Carmichael mine and rail construction project, with more contractors arriving to build the coal handling plant and complete further railway work.

Boshoff said Adani remained on track to deliver 1500 direct and 6750 indirect jobs through the project.

“The expansion of our mine accommodation to 400 beds is complete to cater for the additional workforce and we will soon accommodate another 1200 people in our temporary rail accommodation villages,” he said.

“We will also add more than a dozen mining trucks to our fleet over the coming months. The trucks will be assembled in Mackay, with each taking a team of about 40 men and women up to 10 weeks to put together before they are transported more than 300 kilometres to site.”

Once fully operational, the Carmichael mine will produce 10 million tonnes of thermal coal annually, which will be used to generate electricity for communities across India and South East Asia.