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| Anti-Adani coal mine protesters dogged candidates throughout the Queensland state election campaign. AAP |
In a blow to the coal lobby and other conservative groups, no Chinese bank has agreed to fund the project while a mooted Chinese engineering partner will also not participate, according to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
The outgoing President of the ACF Geoff Cousins said he had been given these assurances in a letter from the Chinese Embassy in Canberra on Tuesday.
"I think it's game over for Adani," Mr Cousins said by phone.
"It just shows the absolute lie perpetrated by Adani that the Chinese had agreed to fund the project."
Also lobbying to kill-off the controversial coal mine was investment banker Mark Burrows and former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr. Those three made representations to the Chinese Embassy last week and the ACF, said Mr Carr, was currently making representations to financial and political leaders in China.
"I have explained to these Chinese institutions that this project is very unpopular with the Australian people," Mr Carr said, according to the ACF statement.
He said he was confident there would be no Chinese financing for the Adani mine.
"This will make it difficult for Adani to finance its massive coal project," Mr Carr said.
The letter from the embassy follows earlier statements that the China Construction Bank and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China would not fund the project.
On Tuesday the Bank of China said it "does not intend to, provide funding for the Adani Carmichael Mine project."
The ACF said the Embassy also confirmed another Chinese entity, believed to be the China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC), had terminated negotiations to participate in the Adani project.
It said this was due to the "absence of commercial feasibility". A source close to CMEC in China told The Australian Financial Review the project was "too political" and they were unlikely to be involved.
Chinese funding for the controversial $10 billion mine, which has sparked protests across the country and was a major issue during the recent Queensland election, was viewed as one of its final hopes.
At least 26 foreign and local banks had ruled out backing the mine and Queensland's Labor Government, which looks likely to be returned, said it would veto a federal loan to help finance a rail line to the port.
That left Chinese support as one of the final options for the Indian conglomerate.
But given the strategic rivalry between China and India, it always appeared somewhat unlikely that Beijing-backed companies would support such a controversial project in a third country.
Mr Cousins said the embassy had provided a strong message that no Chinese banking institution has made any financing commitment to the project.
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