Leigh Creek, South Australia

The area was named Leigh's Creek after its first settler, Harry Leigh, in 1856. Coal was discovered and small quantities mined from 1888 from an underground mine.^[10] The town to support the mine at that time was called Copley, after William Copley, an MP and Commissioner of Crown Lands. However the coal was not mined in a significant commercial manner until 1943 in an effort to make South Australia more self-sufficient for its energy needs, with less dependence on New South Wales. The premier Thomas Playford saw the need to be seen not to rely on interstate energy if he was to attract business to South Australia.

The former open cut mine operation was for low-grade, sub-bitumenous black coal^[11] which is frequently referred to as hard brown coal^[12] or just brown coal.^[13] It was transported 250 km by rail to power stations outside Port Augusta on the east side of Spencer Gulf. The coal occurs in several nested bowl-shaped seams, each several metres thick. The coalfield at Leigh Creek was operated by Alinta Energy and produced^[when?] over 2.5 million tonnes (2,500,000 long tons; 2,800,000 short tons) a year of coal. Alinta Energy also operated the power stations at Port Augusta which were the only remaining coal-fired generators in South Australia, and the only users of coal from Leigh Creek.

Leigh Creek Retention Dam
Most likely the dam, in 2012
Interactive map of Leigh Creek Retention Dam
Country	Australia
Location	Copley, South Australia
Coordinates	30°30′56″S 138°23′46″E / 30.515535°S 138.396240°E / -30.515535; 138.396240
Purpose	Flood control
Status	Decommissioned
Opening date	1981
Built by	Tripodi Constructions
Owner	Government of South Australia
Operator	ETSA Corporation
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Earth fill dam
Impounds	Leigh Creek
Height (foundation)	24 m (79 ft)
Length	1,924 m (6,312 ft)
Dam volume	670×10^3 m3 (24×10^6 cu ft)
Spillway type	Uncontrolled
Spillway capacity	220 m3/s (7,800 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Total capacity	16,700 ML (13,500 acre⋅ft)
Catchment area	160 km2 (62 sq mi)
Surface area	343 ha (850 acres)
Normal elevation	220 m (720 ft) AHD

Since the early 1990s, more changes occurred in Leigh Creek. Massive restructuring of mining operations resulted in the reduction of a workforce of over 750 to about 200. The township also became a lot smaller. The population dropped from about 2500 in 1987 to less than 250 in the year 2016.^[8]

On 30 July 2015, Alinta Energy announced that the closure dates of all three facilities would be brought forward by 12 months, with an end-date of March 2017, and that they may shut them down as early as March 2016.^[14] On 7 October 2015, it was confirmed that the Leigh Creek mining operations would cease on 17 November 2015.^[15]

The Leigh Creek Retention Dam is a decommissioned earth-filled embankment dam across the waterway, Leigh Creek, located near the hamlet of Copley, approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of the town of Leigh Creek. The dam was established in 1981 by ETSA Corporation primarily for flood mitigation, and to support the operations of the coalfields. Its establishment resulted in the relocation of the town of Leigh Creek.^[9]

The earth-filled dam wall is 24 metres (79 ft) high and 1,924 metres (6,312 ft) long, the longest dam wall in South Australia. When full, the reservoir has capacity of 16,700 megalitres (13,500 acre⋅ft) and covers 343 hectares (850 acres), drawn from a catchment area of 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi). The uncontrolled spillway has a flow capacity of 220 cubic metres per second (7,800 cu ft/s).^[16]

Following the closure of the coalfields, the dam was decommissioned and, after community consultation, was remediated as a wildlife refuge for fish, shrimp and native aquatic snails. The spillway was re-engineered and a diversion channel was constructed to allow more water flow to return to the surrounding northern catchments following times of heavy rain.^[9] As of 2026^[update], the former dam was a popular location for bird watching.^[17]

In 2015 the Leigh Creek Energy Project (LCEP) was announced. Proposed by the ASX-listed company NeuRizer, formerly listed as Leigh Creek Energy, the project intended to extract gas from Leigh Creek's coal seams by drilling injection and extraction wells and igniting the coal underground using a process known as in-situ coal gasification. The company proposed that the gas would then be exported to Australia's eastern states via existing pipeline networks. An additional plant to produce ammonium nitrate fertilizer and explosives for use in the mining sector was also announced, to be built adjacent to the coal gasification plant.^[18][19][20] By 2021, the project was re-engineered primarily focused on the production of urea, as a fertiliser, called the NeuRizer Urea Project (NRUP). The revised project faced community opposition; and by 2024 had stalled as a result of changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).^[21]

• Leigh Creek Road is referred to in the John Schumann song of the same name on his 1993 album True Believers.^{[citation needed]}
• It features in the 2022 movie, Gold starring Zac Efron.^[22]

• Ikara–Flinders Ranges National Park
• List of reservoirs and dams in South Australia