This view has emerged at least partly in response to Galilee Basin criticism from Ohio-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis – a think tank linked to the Rockefeller family funds which are divesting from fossil fuel investments in favour of renewable energy.

“These projects are commercially unviable, reflective of the enormous capital investments required, the relatively low quality thermal coal involved, globally depressed seaborne coal prices and the lack of any of the necessary infrastructure required,” the institute’s finance director Tom Sanzillo said of Galilee Basin projects.

GVK spokesman Josh Euler said analysts applying cost structures found in existing coal regions, such as the Bowen Basin, to its large-scale greenfield site would “clearly get their figures wrong”.

“The mining techniques available to us as a result of the large, shallow and very flat delineation of our coal assets deliver a free-on-board price that ensures our mine is comparatively immune to the volatility of cyclical coal prices,” he said.

“The medium to long-term prospects of coal demand remain strong and this will create a global supply shortfall in the coming years with our coal assets uniquely positioned to deliver such new supply.

“But, even in the current market conditions, our Galilee Basin coal assets are differentiated from other mines due to their projected low production costs, sought after coal quality, advanced stage of approvals, advanced stage of construction readiness and access to a proposed viable transport solution connecting our assets to export markets.

“We are continuing to take our projects to a point where construction can start and we wouldn’t be doing that if we thought the projects weren’t viable.”

On the projected low production costs, Euler said it was important to understand that the volume and magnitude of GVK’s Galilee Basin coal deposits, which are large and shallow with a very flat delineation, lent themselves to large scale mining techniques that aren’t available to smaller mines.

“The geology of the area also plays a key role, as the overburden in the Galilee Basin is relatively low strength compared to other basins, which further enhances the ability of these large scale mining techniques to dramatically reduce the production costs,” he said.

“The combination of these kinds of large-scale mining techniques, along with other techniques, deliver a free-on-board price that ensures our mine is comparatively immune to the volatility of cyclical coal prices.”

On the rail hauling talks with Aurizon, the spokesman said joint venture negotiations were being finalised.

“This joint venture represents a tremendous accomplishment as it will be the first time anyone has created a viable solution to get Galilee Basin coal to the export markets,” he said.

“This proposed transaction with Aurizon, will provide development certainty for the rail and port projects and de-risks our coal mines from a logistics point of view. Further, the infrastructure solutions developed by GVK and Aurizon will result in upfront capex reduction.”

Project timing is still subject to some state and federal approvals plus faces court challenges.

“Once the Aurizon joint venture is completed and the regulatory bodies have addressed litigious challenges to approvals, we will execute coal off-take agreements before finalising all financing arrangements,” the spokesman said.

Earlier this month GVK’s Galilee Basin-based $6 billion Alpha coal project received an environmental authority from the Queensland government.

The EA approval came after a six-year greentape journey which involved more than 500 consultants and around 300 collaborative scientific studies.

“The proposed Alpha mine has a JORC resource of 1.8 billion tonnes, with 1.2 billion tonnes of reserves and will be a full open cut mine producing around 32 million tonnes per annum for 30 years,” GVK said at the time.

GVK also has the Kevin’s Corner project and expansion option Alpha West projects in the Galilee Basin.

When combined, GVK Hancock’s three projects could create one of the largest coal mining operations in the world, holding total resources of 8 billion tonnes and peak capacity of about 80 million tonnes per annum.

South Korean and Chinese power stations successfully tested about 125,000 tonnes of Alpha project thermal coal in 2010 with the coal confirmed as a quality low ash, low sulphur thermal coal.