GVK has received environmental approval from the Coordinator-General for its $4.2-billion Kevin’s Corner mine project in the Galilee Basin in western Queensland, Australia.

GVK Power & Infrastructure has received environmental approval for its $ 4.2-billion Kevin’s Corner mine project in the Galilee Basin in western Queensland, Australia.

The Kevin’s Corner project proposes a 30-million tonne a year (mtpa) underground and open-cut coal mine and other associated infrastructure 65 km north-west of the Alpha township. This approval raises coal mining capacity to 62 mtpa.

The project will rely on the railway infrastructure of its adjacent Alpha Coal project to transport coal to the Port of Abbot Point, Bowen.

G.V.K. Reddy, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of GVK, said, “This strengthens our commitment to develop a world-class project. It means billions of dollars in capital investment and thousands of jobs for the locals.”

“We are pleased with the consent given by the Coordinator-General which culminates in the provision of a State Environmental Approval for the project,” G. V. Sanjay Reddy, Vice-Chairman of GVK, said.

Earlier in May 2012, GVK received key environmental approval from the Queensland Government for the Alpha Coal and Rail Project in Queensland. In August last year, GVK’s Alpha Coal Project gained Federal Government approval.

Following a rigorous assessment process by two levels of Government and spanning four years, Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke gave an approval decision to construct and operate the Alpha Coal Mine and a railway line between the mine and the port at Abbot Point, near Bowen.

In October 2012, the company received Federal Government’s approval for its Terminal 3 development at the Port of Abbot Point, near Bowen.

In March this year, GVK Coal Infrastructure (Singapore) Pte Ltd (GVK Hancock) and Aurizon had signed up to develop rail and port infrastructure to unlock Galilee Basin coal reserves, including GVK Hancock’s Alpha, Kevin's Corner and Alpha West coal mines, and a process to support the next phase of coal growth in the Bowen Basin.

The Hyderabad-based GVK group had acquired the coal mines in Queensland with eight billion tonnes in reserves for $1.26 billion. It plans to invest $10 billion to set up the mines, the 500-km rail link and the 80-mtpa port project.

This is expected to form one of the world’s largest integrated coal mining operations.

>rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in