Adani Enterprises' Bravus Mining said on Thursday it had broken ground on its new thermal coal mine in northern Australia, as banks and insurers pull out of financing new such projects to curb global carbon emissions.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned last month that investors should not fund new oil, gas and coal supply projects if the world wants to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.
But Australia, the world's top coal exporter, is considered a global laggard in climate change policy as, unlike many other developed countries, its Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not set out a path to zero emissions by 2050.
Bravus Mining and Resources CEO David Boshoff said Bravus had already secured customers for the 10 million tonne per annum of coal produced at the Carmichael Mine.
"Bravus has now struck coal and exposed the first of the coal seams at our Carmichael Project," it said in a statement.
The project is on track to export its first coal in 2021.