<div>Adani Mining has asked its four engineering contractors working on the Carmichael project to halt work around the mine, the Guardian Australia reported, citing people familiar with the matter.</div><div> </div><div>Halting work at this stage of the project made no sense even as a savings measure, and raises speculation that the company might scrap the project altogether, Guardian Australia said.</div><div> </div><div>Adani has signed up buyers for about 70 per cent of the 40 million tonnes coal the Carmichael project is due to produce in its first phase, with production expected to begin in late 2017.</div><div> </div><div>Guardian Australia said it is understood that about 40 engineers working for one of Adani's contractors, WorleyParsons, were among those pulled off the project.</div><div> </div><div>The move was anything but "Adani beginning to run up the white flag" on the project, the newspaper reported, citing a senior engineering industry source.</div><div> </div><div>Tim Buckley, a director of energy finance studies, Australasia, at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which opposes new coal developments said halting work at this stage "just crucifies the project", the newspaper reported.</div><div> </div><div>"The minute Adani stops moving forward, the project is just dead, in my view," Buckley said.</div><div> </div><div>"And the reason is you’ve got billions of dollars of debt in Australia and they’ve got this interest bill. They’ve been drawing a line in the sand and that is that they need financial close by October 2015."</div><div> </div><div>The pressure on billionaire Gautam Adani to make a call on the project included a slump in the world thermal coal price, the Indian government's policy of supporting domestic coal and renewables and Adani’s own financial position, according to Buckley.</div><div> </div><div>SMEC, one of the contractors hired by Adani, declined to comment.</div><div> </div><div>Adani and its other contractors Aecon, Aurecon and WorleyParsons could not be reached for comment outside regular business hours, Reuters reported.</div><div> </div><div>"It's Adani’s practice not to comment on specific commercial arrangements," a spokeswoman for Adani was quoted as saying in the Guardian Australia report.</div><div> </div><div>Adani's ambitions in Australia have been uncertain following a surprise election result in Australia's coal-rich Queensland state, leading to a policy reversal, and heightened pressure to protect the Great Barrier Reef.</div>
