Traditional owners have faced another legal setback in their quest to block Indian giant Adani's proposed megamine in central Queensland.

A small group of Wangan and Jagalingou people, who have a native title claim over the proposed site of the coal mine in the Galilee basin, on Tuesday lost an appeal against an earlier Brisbane Supreme Court ruling that the granting of leases in the area were lawful.

Wangan and Jagalingou traditional owner and council spokesperson Adrian Burragubba and his niece, Murrawah Johnson, speak outside the Brisbane Supreme Court after launching the challenge to the Adani Carmichael mine. Credit:Jorge Branco

Lawyers for the group argued in the Queensland Court of Appeal in May that issuing the leases to Adani was unlawful because they had not been given adequate opportunity to address the state government on native title issues relating to the proposed Carmichael site.

But Adani and the Queensland government argued the traditional owners had never made a proper objection to the mine under the terms set out by the Mineral Resources Act 1989.