By SAT Business Desk
MELBOURNE, 6 November 2020: The recent rebranding of ‘Adani Australia’ to ‘Bravus Mining & Resources’ is not a business first. Companies do rebrand themselves for this or that reason. The infamous gas leak in Bhopal, India from the Union Carbide pesticide plant on the night of 2-3 December 1984 killed and injured thousands. It was called the world’s worst industrial disasters. The plant lies in ruins till now and people’s suffering unabated. It remains a controversial issue even in 2020, as the effects of the environmental disaster are still unfolding and human misery continuing.
Naturally, the Union Carbide Corporation-UCC (American Company) which held majority shares in the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) faced many legal and financial issues for years and finally in 1999 UCC was sold to Dow Chemical, one of the big American and global chemical company.
Gautam Adani, Photo-SAT/NN
So, a name that became infamous was changed. Most in the present generation do not know or may never know that UCC became Dow Chemical. But the Bhopal disaster was immortalised by its catastrophic consequences just like the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the former Soviet Union. A name change has not erased the UCC/UCIL or the Chernobyl disaster (26 April 1986) and not forgotten memories despite the plant now being in another country – Ukraine.
Interestingly, few other Adani companies were renamed on October 8, 2020, says the Stop Adani, these are as follows:
– North Queensland Export Terminal Pty Ltd previously Adani Abbot Point Terminal Pty Ltd
– North Queensland Export Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd, previously Adani Abbot Point Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd
– NQXT Port Pty Ltd, previously Mundra Port Pty Ltd
– NQXT Holdings Pty Ltd, previously Mundra Port Holdings Pty Ltd
– NQXT Capital Holdings Pty Ltd previously Adani Australia Coal Terminal Finance Company Pty Ltd, MPPL Capital Pty Ltd
– NQXT Capital Pty Ltd, previously AAPT Capital Pty Ltd
Environmental and activist groups have reacted to ‘Adani Australia’ rebranding saying the legacy of breaking environmental laws, trashing traditional owner rights, destroying critical habitat for endangered species, threatening Queensland water and the Reef, or turbo-charging climate change cannot be hidden by a rebrand.
“The Australian people, banks, insurers and companies see through this weak attempt to clean up its dirty image and will continue to hold Adani to account for their destruction in Australia and India,” says a Stop Adani media release.
The Mackay Conservation Group coordinator Peter McCallum says, “People won’t be fooled by Adani’s attempt to hide behind a new name. Adani wants to arise like a phoenix from the ashes of its damaged corporate image, but that bird won’t fly. They can’t scrub away Adani’s track record of breaking Queensland laws, endangering the Reef, destroying Black-Throated Finch habitat, and intimidating the community. Dirt like that sticks.
“The Adani Group is still pushing to build the largest coal mine in Australia, so regardless of what they’re called, Adani’s Bravus will continue to burn us by turbo-charging dangerous global warming and driving worse bushfires in Australian communities. We won’t give up the fight to hold Adani to account for this.”
Christian Slattery, Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner says, “This latest marketing tactic by Adani shows just how removed from reality this company is. You can’t hide the truth behind a name invented by PR consultants.
“Adani knows its brand is toxic – which is why insurers, financiers, and other contractors continue to abandon it. Whatever the company is called, it will forever be known for fuelling climate change, bulldozing threatened species habitat, draining precious groundwater, and ignoring the rights of First Nations people.
“If this is the best idea Adani can come up with, then it shows the company is out of tricks.”
The new company is still an Adani Group Company, ultimately owned by Adani Enterprises and the Adani family.
In a statement Bravus Mining & Resources, CEO Mr. David Boshoff, says “The Stop Adani movement has tried unsuccessfully to prevent our business from operating in Australia, but the fact is there is ongoing demand for thermal coal in Asia and India,” and “the new Bravus name will become increasingly well-known as the brand rolls out over the next year in the lead up to the Carmichael mine becoming operational, and that the
business was on track to produce first coal in 2021.”
