The project, which the company self-financed, has been scaled back from initial plans for a A$16 billion ($11 billion) operation that could yield 60 million tons a year. вЂњThe coal will be sold at index adjusted pricing,вЂќ and all taxes and royalties will be paid locally, according to the company.В Seaborne coalВ prices have swung wildly in recent weeks, plunging from a record high in October and then recovering some of the gains. вЂњWe have already secured the market for the 10 million tons per annum of coal,вЂќ Bravus said in a statement, confirming its export plans are on track. Analysts expect at least some of the material to be used by theВ conglomerateвЂ™s own power plants, though the company declined to specify details of its customers. Demand is rising in parts of Asia, and the remedy from Beijing and New Delhi to recent power shortages was to ramp up coal production.Д®xports from Carmichael will be used to supply electricity to India and nations in Southeast Asia, according to Bravus Mining & Resources, an AdaniВ unit in Australia. Yet the start of overseas sales also reflects coalвЂ™s still-pivotal role in the worldвЂ™s energy mix, a status that led China and India -В the top consumers - to dilute efforts to set a global deadline to phase out the fuel at the COP26 climate talks.

вЂњThatвЂ™s happening not just for activists, but in boardrooms and for investors across the world who want to reduce their exposure to toxic investments.вЂќ вЂњCarmichael seems to have catalyzed a broader conversation about the future of thermal coal,вЂќ said Samantha Hepburn, a law professor at Melbourne-based Deakin University who has focused on mining and energy issues. Opposition to the Carmichael mine, located inland from AustraliaвЂ™s iconic Great Barrier Reef in Queensland state, has spanned environmental activists to Wall Street banks, insurers and investors, offering a microcosm of the escalating international campaign against the most polluting fossil fuel in the past decade. Proposed in 2010 and stalled by legal challenges, financing setbacks and a sustained campaign from climate activists, the operation is scheduled to ship first cargoes before the end of December and aims to supply an initial 10 million tons of thermal coal annually for at least 30 years. Billionaire Gautam AdaniвЂ™s coal mine in Australia, a project thatвЂ™s become a global emblem for opposition to fossil fuels, is preparing to begin exports after more than a decade of bitter dispute over its development.

Samantha ramp walk