Adani Mining records $461m loss as plunging coal prices and debt and interest payments hurt

North Queensland coal miner Adani has suffered a $461m loss in the past year - $800m in the past two years - weighed down by plunging prices along with debt and interest repayments.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s northern Queensland mining business suffered a near half a billion dollar loss in the 12 months to March, weighed down by plunging prices and the costs involved in debt and interest repayments to other members of the conglomerate.

With the coal industry under pressure, Adani Mining’s financial report lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed that the miner had a $461.7m loss in the 12 months to March 31 this year, following on from a $342.3m loss in the previous 12 months.

The sector has been hit hard by weaker thermal coal prices which has put a number of smaller miners like Bowen Coking Coal and Australian Pacific Coal under extreme pressure.

Coal is being stockpiled at Adani Mining’s Carmichael mine.

The big losses come despite strong cashflow generation from the Carmichael mine near Clermont which is part of the integrated pit to rail to port business in northern Queensland.

According to a cashflow statement published by Adani Mining the company generated $82.2m of cash from operations in the year to the end of March, and $208.8m the previous year.

However, Adani Mining’s bottom line has also been hit by $255.6m spent on interest and lease payments to “related parties” – or other member of the Adani Group as well as non-cash expenses like depreciation and unrealised foreign exchange losses.

The Carmichael coal mine in northern Queensland.

Despite strong opposition from environmental groups Adani started mining thermal coal at Carmichael in late 2021 making its 10-year plus quest for a fully integrated mine, rail and port business in Queensland a reality.

The Adani subsidiary that owns the locomotives and carriages that carry the coal to the port – Bowen Rail Company – lost $41.9m in the year to March which followed a $40.1m in the previous 12 months.

The Queensland Labor government, through a 99-year lease agreement, had granted Abbot Point Operations which is owned by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone control of the the terminal and its infrastructure in 2011.

Recently, billionaire Chris Wallin’s QCoal lodged a claim with the Queensland Competition Authority over access and pricing at Abbot Point Coal Terminal – now known as North Queensland Export Terminal.

QCoal has called on the QCA to make the port a declared service so that it can rule on pricing and access for all users.

QCoal said a declaration would provide coal miners with “certainty of access on reasonable terms” with arbitration and mediation available in the event of a dispute.

The submission also said it would give “protection from risks created by the Adani Group’s vertical integration” model.