Telford Cut was an open-cut coal mine, now closed, in the Leigh Creek Coalfield in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. For the 72 years between its opening in 1943 and its closure, the mine supplied sub-bituminous coal to fire power stations first in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
then, from 1954,
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
. Production ceased in November 2015 but stockpiled product was transported to Port Augusta until the last power station closed down in May 2016.
Coal mine
The
open cut mine
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
operation extracted low-grade,
sub-bituminous coal Sub-bituminous coal is a lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon. The properties of this type are between those of lignite, the lowest grade of coal, and those of bituminous coal, the second-highest grade of coal. Sub-bituminous coal i ...
that was transported 250 km by rail to
power stations
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many pow ...
outside
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
on the east side of
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...
. The coal occurs in several nested bowl-shaped seams, each several metres thick. The coalfield at Leigh Creek was operated at first by the
Electricity Trust of South Australia
The Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) was the South Australian Government-owned monopoly vertically integrated electricity provider from 1946 until its privatisation in 1999.
Precursors Early days (1882–1900)
Charles Todd, an ea ...
then by
Alinta Energy
Alinta Energy is an Australian electricity generating and gas retailing private company owned by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE). It was sold for $4 billion and was approved Treasurer Scott Morrison in 2017. Alinta Energy has an ...
, and produced over 2.5 million tonnes a year of coal. Alinta energy also operated the power stations at Port Augusta; they were the last coal-fired electricity generators in South Australia, and the only users of coal from Leigh Creek.
Exploration
In 1888, John Henry Reid discovered coal-bearing shale during the sinking of a railway dam in the Leigh Creek area (
Henry Brown, Government Geologist confirmed the find in his visit to Leigh's Creek in February 1889). This discovery led to a geological examination of the area by a government geologist and the establishment of underground workings. No 1 shaft, sunk by the Leigh Creek Coal Mining Company, was abandoned on striking a heavy flow of water. A new shaft was sunk in 1892 but only small quantities of coal were extracted for experimental purposes and operations ceased in 1894.
Development
It was not until 1940 when coal supplies became critically low because of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
that Leigh Creek coal was considered again. The deposits seemed extensive and extracting the coal by open cut methods was considered feasible. Exploratory boring started in 1941 and plans were made to develop the first open cut mine. Excavation started in 1943 under the control of the Engineering & Water Supply Department. It was apparent that the electricity supply industry would be the largest user of Leigh Creek coal so control of the coalfield was transferred to the
Electricity Trust of South Australia
The Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) was the South Australian Government-owned monopoly vertically integrated electricity provider from 1946 until its privatisation in 1999.
Precursors Early days (1882–1900)
Charles Todd, an ea ...
(ETSA) in 1948.
ETSA ordered boilers capable of burning Leigh Creek coal for the
Osborne Power Station
The Osborne Power Station is located in Osborne, a northwestern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.
Current
Today's Osborne Power Station is natural gas powered with one gas turbine and one steam turbine that together generate 180 MW of ele ...
near
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
and, after thorough investigations, decided to establish a power station at Port Augusta to burn Leigh Creek coal exclusively.
Playford A Power Station Playford may refer to:
Places
* City of Playford, Australia
* Electoral district of Playford, Australia
* Playford B Power Station, South Australia
* Playford, Suffolk, a village in England
* Hotel in Australia, part of Accor Hotels
People
*The ...
was built in the 1950s, followed by
Playford B Power Station
Playford B Power Station was located at Port Paterson in the Australian state of South Australia about south of the city centre of Port Augusta. It was coal powered with four 60 MW steam turbines that generated a total of 240 MW of electrici ...
in the 1960s. The combined A and B plants, with a total generating capacity of 330 megawatts, were named in recognition of the then South Australian Premier,
Sir Thomas Playford
Sir Thomas Playford (5 July 1896 – 16 June 1981) was an Australian politician from the state of South Australia. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia and leader of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) from 5 November 1938 to 10 ...
.
The use of large excavating machines and efficient mining equipment at Leigh Creek, together with the rebuilding of a railway line between Leigh Creek and Port Augusta by the
Commonwealth Railways
The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975.
O ...
, resulted in economic production and delivery of coal to the power station.
Pacific National
Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses.
History
In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New ...
provided the coal freight service from 2001.
Expansion
In the mid 1970s it was decided to build a 500 megawatt station at Port Augusta, called the
Northern Power Station. That decision meant enlarging the coalfield using new methods to extract deeper coal, increasing production, building a retention dam to prevent possible flooding of the field and diverting the main highway around the coalfield. The Northern Power Station, alongside
Playford A and B, was commissioned in 1985. Because the existing town was located within the coal basin, a new town was built south of the coalfield and the new Leigh Creek became occupied in 1980.
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 700 today. The loss of residents also resulted in the loss of many services. Whilst most workers at the coalfields make a good income, the high cost of communication and services drastically reduce the disposable income. Schooling at Leigh Creek has become a bigger problem than ever before. Reasonable education is available for younger students in the primary school. For high school students, the meagre subject choice has made education at the Leigh Creek Area School not the ideal option for many students. Many parents have to send their children away at 13 years old, to get a good education in Adelaide or regional cities like Port Augusta. A simple medical procedure may require a trip to Adelaide, which means a round trip of about 1200 km.
Rail transportation
Coal was originally transported by a gauge railway that went in and out of the
Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna.
The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...
via
Hawker
Hawker or Hawkers may refer to:
Places
* Hawker, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Hawker, South Australia, a town
* Division of Hawker, an Electoral Division in South Australia
* Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarct ...
(315m amsl) and
Quorn
Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin.
Quorn is sold as bo ...
(293m amsl). However, railway was not designed to handle frequent heavy loads. Instead of upgrading the line it was decided to build a heavier,
standard-gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
line via the plains to the west of the ranges, which would not incur significantly higher construction costs. The new
Marree line opened in 1957; the extension beyond the mine was justified by cattle traffic from
that town.
Although the line was built to handle coal traffic, Marree provided an advantage of moving further north the point at which passengers had to transfer between a modern, air-conditioned train and the ancient narrow-gauge train,
The Ghan
''The Ghan'' is an experiential tourism oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. O ...
, when journeying to and from
Alice Springs
Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
. The change-of-gauge role was lost 23 years later, when a
standard gauge line to Alice Springs – routed well to the west of the Central Australia Railway – was opened in 1980, rendering the
narrow gauge line to Alice Springs redundant.
In 1987, the terminus of the
standard-gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
Marree line was pulled back to Telford Cut, where a balloon loop was built to simplify train operations.
The railway ceased operation after the power station closed in May 2016.
Closure
On 11 June 2015, Alinta Energy announced their intent to cease operating the Leigh Creek coal mine beyond March 2018, closing it along with the related
Playford B and
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
power stations, and warned that closure would be sooner should business conditions worsen further.
On 30 July 2015, Alinta Energy announced that the closure dates of all three facilities were to be brought forward by 12 months; the company intended not operate the generating plant past March 2017 and could shut it down as early as March 2016. The closure date for the Port Augusta power stations was later delayed until 8 May 2016.
On 7 October 2015, it was confirmed that mining operations would cease on 17 November 2015. After that date, stockpiled coal was railed to
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
until the power station closed in May 2016.
Remediation
Following closure of the mine, Alinta was required to remediate the site that had been mined for over 70 years. An initial priority was to ensure that any remaining coal could not spontaneously ignite. This was achieved the battering the steep mine sides down to shallower angles, and covering any potential coal deposits with at least two metres of inert earth.
Reactivation
After the closure, an application for
underground coal gasification
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an industrial process which converts coal into product gas. UCG is an ''in-situ'' gasification process, carried out in non-mined coal seams using injection of oxidants and steam. The product gas is brought t ...
was made for the site. The
Adnyamathanha
The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...
community opposes the project.
Township
The nearby town of
Leigh Creek supported the mine during its operation.
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Coal mines in South Australia
Far North (South Australia)
Rail infrastructure in South Australia
Mining in South Australia
Former mines in Australia