Leigh Creek facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leigh Creek South Australia
Leigh Creek Location in South Australia
Population	549 (2006 census)
Postcode(s)	5731
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACDT (UTC+10:30)
LGA(s)	Outback Communities Authority
State electorate(s)	Electoral district of Stuart
Federal Division(s)	Grey
Localities around Leigh Creek: Myrtle Springs Myrtle Springs Copley Copley Puttapa Leigh Creek North Moolooloo Puttapa Puttapa North Moolooloo North Moolooloo
Footnotes	Adjoining localities

Leigh Creek (once called Leigh's Creek) is a town in central eastern South Australia. It is known for its coal mining. In 2006, about 549 people lived there.

The town is located west of the northern Flinders Ranges. The current town was built 13 kilometers south of the original town. This move happened in 1982. It allowed the coal mine to get bigger. Because of this, most buildings in Leigh Creek are fairly new. They have modern designs. The mine and its railway station are called Telford.

History of Leigh Creek

The area got its name, Leigh's Creek, in 1856. It was named after the first person to settle there, Harry Leigh. People found coal in the area in 1888. Small amounts of coal were dug from an underground mine. The town built to support this early mine was called Copley. It was named after William Copley, who was a member of parliament.

However, coal mining did not become a big business until 1943. This was done to help South Australia produce its own energy. The state wanted to rely less on New South Wales for power. The leader of the state, Thomas Playford, believed South Australia needed its own energy. This would help attract new businesses to the state.

What is Coal Mining?

The mine in Leigh Creek uses a method called open-pit mining. This means they dig a very large hole in the ground to get the coal. The coal found here is a type called low-grade, sub-bituminous black coal. People often call it hard brown coal or just brown coal.

This coal is sent 250 kilometers by train to power stations near Port Augusta. These power stations are on the east side of Spencer Gulf. The coal is found in several layers, like bowls stacked inside each other. Each layer is several meters thick.

The Leigh Creek coalfield is run by a company called Alinta Energy. As of 2015, the mine produced over 2.5 million tonnes of coal each year. Alinta Energy also runs the power stations in Port Augusta. These were the only coal-fired power plants left in South Australia. They were also the only ones that used coal from Leigh Creek.

The Mine's Future

Since the early 1990s, Leigh Creek has changed a lot. The mining company made big changes to how it worked. This meant fewer people were needed for the jobs. The number of workers went from over 750 down to about 200. The town also became much smaller. The population dropped from about 2500 in 1987 to less than 700 by 2015.

With fewer people, many services in the town were lost. For example, if someone needed a simple medical procedure, they might have to travel to Adelaide. This trip is about 1200 kilometers round trip.

On July 30, 2015, Alinta Energy announced that the mine would close sooner than planned. They said they would stop operating by March 2017, or even as early as March 2016. On October 7, 2015, it was confirmed that the Leigh Creek mining operations would stop on November 17, 2015.

Leigh Creek Energy Project

In 2015, news came out about a new coal project in Leigh Creek. This project is called the Leigh Creek Energy Project (LCEP). It is proposed by a company listed on the ASX called Leigh Creek Energy.

The company plans to get gas from the coal underground. They will drill wells and light the coal underground. This process is called in-situ coal gasification. The company hopes to send this gas to other parts of Australia using existing pipelines. They also plan to build a factory next to the gas plant. This factory would make ammonium nitrate fertilizer and explosives for mining.

Climate

In Popular Culture

The song "Leigh Creek Road" by John Schumann is about this area. It is on his 1993 album, True Believers.