Indian mining giant Adani could wait up to two years to get two environmental approvals to start construction at its controversial Carmichael coal mine in Australia, a Queensland government official says.
Environmental activists have contested the project since it was first proposed eight years ago because of concerns about global warming and the potential impact of its port operations on the Great Barrier Reef.
Caoilin Chestnutt, Queensland's Resources Investment Commissioner, told Reuters she believed environmental clearance for the project could in theory be given in the next several months.
"I would guess, but it is an absolute mess, six months to two years," she said on the sidelines of the Coaltrans conference in New Delhi.
"They (Department of Environment) have said they (Adani) have to go back to the drawing board and draft a management plan."
Her agency is not responsible for issuing environmental approvals for the project, which is regulated by Queensland's Department for Environment and Science.
Queensland's Department of Natural Resources said on Thursday in a statement that Chestnutt's role was "to attract business investment to the Queensland resources sector" and she was "not authorised to speak about any specific environmental approvals."
The Queensland Department for Environment and Science has said two approvals were required, one relating to a plan to protect an endangered bird species, the black-throated finch, and another to identify the source aquifer of ground water in the area.
Adani plans to start producing around 10 million tonnes of coal a year and eventually ramp up to 27.5 million tonnes at the mine.
The company has slammed a report on the endangered bird which was ordered by the Queensland government, calling it "an anti-Adani lobbying document, dressed up as science."
