Leigh Creek Energy holds petroleum licences over the Leigh Creek Coalfield, a large coal deposit which spans approximately seven kilometres at Leigh Creek. The company's flagship Leigh Creek Energy Project intends to produce gas at the site of the former Leigh Creek coal mine and distribute it to the eastern states of Australia via existing pipeline networks. The project also intends to develop a fertiliser production facility using waste gas streams and ammonium nitrate explosives for use by South Australia's mining sector. The LCEP will also generate electricity via gas turbines to supply the project and Leigh Creek township.
History
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the company "undertook a back-door listing on the ASX earlier this year using the shell of the former Marathon Resources." Project planning commenced in 2011, and an exploration license was obtained by the company in November 2014. In October 2015, two non-executive directors of Leigh Creek Energy resigned. The outgoing directors were former South Australian politician and political lobbyist, Chris Schacht and Peter Williams. Both were previously directors of Marathon Resources, and their departure marked "the transition of the company from its previous endeavours, to the new management direction as an energy company." Current Executive Chairman Justyn Peters is a former executive general manager of Linc Energy Ltd. Between 2006 and 2012 he managed Linc's trial in-situ coal gasification project in Chinchilla, Queensland. In April 2016 Linc Energy entered voluntary administration, after being committed to stand trial in March 2016 on five charges related to breaches of environmental regulations. The process of "underground coal gasification" has been banned in Queensland. In October 2015, David Shearwood stated that the company aimed to be producing gas via in-situ coal gasification at Leigh Creek within three years. On 12 April, Leigh Creek Energy received approval for its Statement of Environmental Objectives. The company intends to run a pilot project and produce syngas for a period of 2-3 months in order to trial processes and sample gas quality. First stage plant module construction was completed in May 2018, with next stage plant construction expected to occur during the third quarter of 2018.
Governance
As of June 2017, the company's CEO is Phil Staveley, and its Executive Chairman is Justyn Peters with Non-Executive Independent Directors, Gregory English and Murray Chatfield.
Opposition to the project has been voiced by the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association, and the William Light Foundation. The latter has been supported by groundwater experts Gavin Mudd and Matthew Currell, both of RMIT, who expressed their view that the environmental risks associated with the project had been understated by the proponent.
